


Underrate Risks

by Oceanbreeze7



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Loki, Badass, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Dinosaurs, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki Feels, Loki Needs a Hug, Male Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Post-Movie(s), Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:21:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 68,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3065984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanbreeze7/pseuds/Oceanbreeze7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally on FF.net<br/>"You asked what would happen in war against him?" Fury asked, leaning back with a frown before narrowing his eye on Steve, "Stark has contacts, money, brains, people working for him, and is as impossible to get rid of as a wart-" He sighed, a slight twitch of the lips showing a grim smile. "Captain- if we were ever against Stark, there wouldn't be a fight- we'd be dead already."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally a Oneshot, which then developed into a multi-chapter story on FF.net.  
> It has become one of my more popular ones, thus its the first one I am moving to this site.  
> I hope you enjoy it.

There were a few times when each of the Avengers learned just how lucky they were to have a certain teammate on their side.

They realized how brutal Thor could act when Bruce was trapped under falling rubble, just after he had changed back.

It was not a moment after the shifting rebar and concrete collapsed did Thor rush forward, wielding Mjolnir with such precision, and with such effect that not twelve jackhammer's could recreate.

Then, from a horrific show of strength he pulled Bruce's unconscious form from the rubble with care that led one to believe he held a newborn baby. From the gentleness he had suddenly given, he turned to rage, the skies rolling black as he faced the terrorist group who dared to challenge he.

Tony had risen into the air, ready to help with the fight- however he could do nothing as if by a freak natural disaster, dozens of lightning bolts rained from the sky, each striking who Thor turned his gaze on- a few striking a few stronger members twice, just to make sure they stayed down.

He looked at them, a pile of smoking bodies before turning and marching away, obviously still upset with Bruce's treatment, leaving the others to follow behind like helpless puppies.

The event still caused slight discomfort within the group; thinking to what was- a god's fury- then to the same god, attempting to fit three waffles inside his mouth at one time, including varying condiments from whipped cream to maraschino cherries just because he could.

Few tried to remember that event- and even worse event that showed just how lethal Natasha was, was when ten assassins from Russia arrived, male and females, experts in areas of acrobatics that even Clint didn't know. Apparently, they were trained from a young age to take down her, only her, as she had left her previous payers quite…displeased, with her work.

They watched, Clint telling them to back away from her own fight, as she took on all ten at one time. Killing them in ways ranging from tripping them off a building, breaking their neck with her legs, or simply shooting them between the eyes.

What made it much more impressive, was the fact that the entire fight was finished just over ten minute. A minute- sixty seconds per assassin.

After the whole ordeal, she had simply turned, avoiding anyone's eye and wandered off, leaving the others to linger around the site as Shield cleaned up the bodies, then retreat to the tower and lounge around until Natasha returned later that night- or the next morning to be accurate.

Clint's was by accident, they had watched his long after the event, by a police camera located on a side of a bank in Iowa.

He had been on a mission, walking on the opposite side of a crowded street of his target, keeping just behind him as he pulled his jacket just a little closer to keep him slightly warmer.

He had no bow on him, having to stay undercover and out of sight- and he was doing how he normally did, excellent, when hands grabbed him, forcing him into a nearby alley while two people slammed him into the gum covered wall.

He blinked in surprise, better eyesight adapting faster than a normal human's, as he quickly looked over the two thugs who held him- eyes blinking in surprise as a name clicked to the long boney face accompanied by a more chubby one with a distinct birthmark covering the corner of his right eyebrow.

"Give us all your money!" The boney one cried out, voice oddly high pitched for a man in his years, the other one grunting as if to add to the threat.

Clint looked at the two, spy training vanishing suddenly in surprise as he looked at the two, hardly registering the fact that there was a knife pressed to his throat- not his jugular might he add.

"You- Duke? Rex?" Clint gasped out- the two guys stumbling backwards and looking at Clint with suspicion as they now held the blades up- eight inch long hunting blades.

"We lost those names when we were kids- who'r you?" The high pitched voice of Duke asked back, sunken eyes looking at Clint intently.

"Maybe some kid from the orphanage, Boss." Rex grunted out, voice deeper then wrestlers as his throat wiggled with the words.

"Yeah- I think I know you!" Duke sneered, using his knife to point.

Clint remembered these two, oh yes, the two jerks that attacked him and Barney, part of the driving factor why he ran away.

But now? Living off the streets in a whole new town?

"I rem'ber you! You that kid who ran off an' join tha' circus!" Duke sneered, falling into raspy laughter as his knife moved up and down with his chest heaving.

"Should we mug em' Boss?" Rex grumbled, looking at the two, unsure.

"Nah! We got 'em and that oth'r kid when we little! Let get 'em now!" Duke laughed, but Rex tilted his head, looking at Clint, who now had several weapons within a second's movement.

"Wai' Boss. Look a' his shoes an' stuff. He all those fancy folk." Rex called out, causing Duke to narrow his eyes as he looked at him.

"Yeah- wait! I've seen 'em bef're now! He was on that telly in tha' window! He w'th a bow now!" Duke called out, finally remembering, before pressing his knife back to Clint's throat, snickering and showing several orange coloured teeth with odd black spots on them.

"You work'en with those superfolk! Oh- you've got lot of money on ya'!" Duke laughed, looking pointedly towards the pockets off his windbreaker.

"The proper word is Avengers." Clint threw back, the two noticing how his words seemed more…complete.

"Ya' learn that bow at 'em circus?" Duke snickered, dragging the knife around Clint's exposed chin, before meeting his eyes.

"Partially- the government found special use for me." Clint responded coldly, remembering what these goons weren't afraid to do.

"Ooh! Lisen' here Boss! He's one of 'em Politicians!" Rex spoke, Duke laughing in unison with Rex, before the dragging knife tip found something on Clint's upper arm.

"Wha' here?" He asked, ripping the sleeve off with a few messy slices, before pulling out the pistol and dropping it like it was a burning coal.

"'E got a gun on 'im! A gun! He one of 'ose killer people!" Duke shouted, and Clint glanced at the entrance to the alley way, hoping nobody saw.

"You're right. I am an assassin." Clint stonily stated blandly, looking with slight satisfaction the look of fear on the two, before pulling out two guns- from an area the two were befuddled by- and quickly took aim before taking aim and squeezing the trigger.

Resulting in a small clicking noise.

"If I ever catch you mugging, raping, attacking, hell, even stealing- anybody, I won't hesitate to blow your brains out, Duke, Rex." Clint growled, eyes and face showing only seriousness, and the two quickly scampered, leaving Clint sighing at the ripped sleeve of his jacket.

On the security footage the others watched, it looked much more impressive.

x-(X)-x

The Hulk, was scary all the time. One didn't have a reason to trust it unless it trusted you first. Steve was kindhearted, nice and gentle, and at times, it was hard to think of him doing anything that could risk the team.

Stark was similar, always joking and throwing witty insults around without care. Most of the time, the only thing that could hurt anybody about him were his defective weapons on the suit.

And right now, nobody was buying it.

"Stark? Dangerous? I don't think he could be dangerous, Director." Clint scoffed, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms, balancing on the back two legs of his chair.

"I agree- Stark doesn't even hurt our foes that bad." Steve shrugged in his seat, looking at Fury.

"You'd be surprised, Agent." Fury grumbled, slapping a file on the table, just at an angle to allow Clint to read Tony's name on the cover.

"Tony doesn't seem like the…dangerous type." Bruce warily stated, looking at folder as if it would lunge up and bite him- or at least take a few fingers off of him.

"Bruce is right, Tony doesn't seem hostile." Natasha stated, looking at Fury with a well hidden confused mask.

"That's because he isn't hostile yet." Fury clarified, causing everyone to look at him.

"…You've lost me." Clint stated, summing up everyone's thoughts.

Fury pushed the folder over the table, letting it slide to a halt right in front of Bruce, who frowned but slipped it open, taking out the sheet of paper off of the top of the pile.

"Tony Stark statistics page? Okay- age: 34-"

"Thirty four? Hah- looks like you're the youngest Cap." Clint smirked, looking at Steve who looked slightly disgruntled.

"Date of Birth: May 9th, Recruitment for Avengers: Yes. What's so wrong with this?" Bruce frowned, looking up at Fury with a frown.

"Read the side notes." Fury nodded, causing Bruce to look back down once more.

"Side Notes: Tony Stark does not cooperate well on a team as well as taking orders from others-"

"Don't we know that." Natasha muttered under her breath.

"He shows signs of lack of Self regard-"

"Friend Stark did take the weapon into the portal." Thor agreed, causing a few nods around the tables.

"-And is a possible danger to others. Okay, I see the point here, but why else am I- Mental? What? Who put this up here?" Bruce blinked in surprise causing Steve to look at him in alarm.

"Stark is mental?"

"No- it's a category. Mental Status: unstable. Unstable? What does that mean?" Bruce frowned, and Fury slid another paper across, a medical file.

"Okay- Mr. Stark has refused therapists and psychologists on multiple occasions. Assumed Post Traumatic Amnesia. Suffers from PTSD- What? When did he get PTSD?" Bruce gasped, looking up in alarm. Fury managed a frown, Natasha mirroring it.

"Friend Banner- what is this PTSD you speak of?" Thor asked, confused.

"It's an illness, after you see something really bad, and you get flashbacks, nightmares, all that stuff." Clint tried to clarify, causing Steve's eyes to flash in recognition.

"It's when you see or have gone through a traumatic experience- but Tony never showed any signs of having PTSD!" Bruce argued, looking at Fury who lifted one eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"You mean you haven't looked, for the signs, Dr. Banner. Tell me- does Stark startle often, doesn't focus, doesn't fall asleep, or when he does, have nightmares? Tell me, when did you ever see Stark swimming? Or even near a pool?" Fury growled, causing Steve's eyes to widen slightly, and jaw click shut.

"He's had bad memories of water? Did he almost drown or something?" Clint frowned, looking at Natasha who stiffened suddenly as her eyes narrowed.

"Tasha?" He asked quizzically, and she looked at them with a regretful look.

"I- Pepper mentioned a little how Stark was taken captive…and tortured."

"Water Boarding." Bruce stated numbly, causing Steve to look slightly horrified before Bruce looked back down at the paper.

There's more- Diagnosed Narcissism! What!" Bruce blinked, staring at the sheet and growing slightly pale.

"You see why Stark can be dangerous." Fury nodded, causing even more confusion.

"Wait- I've heard of it in the passing, what is Narcissism exactly?" Clint asked, the legs of his chair setting down as Bruce swallowed.

"It's- it's a mental disorder-"

"Knew Stark was messed up in the head, just not this bad." Steve muttered under his breath, Bruce ignored it and continued on.

"It's an illness in the way one judge's self- causing them to be self-absorbed." Bruce swallowed, not wanting to look at the paper that stared mockingly the results.

"Why is that bad? We all know Stark is self-absorbed." Clint smiled, trying to lighten the mood slightly from the previous downcast feeling.

"There's more than one type of Narcissism, Clint." Natasha sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"What- but."

"She means that Shield is afraid that he's going to develop Aggressive Narcissism." Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"…We don't know what that means Bruce." Steve muttered after a slightly awkward silence, and Bruce sighed, caring to delve deeper.

"It entitles one to superficial charm, a killer ego, constant lying, lack of remorse and guilt, lack of empathy, manipulative, and failure to accept responsibilities." Bruce sighed, looking upright and the others going quiet.

"Oh…that would be…bad." Clint muttered, but Thor frowned.

"How is one sure that Friend Stark has this…illness?"

"There are the seven symptoms-" Natasha started, apparently having looked it up.

"Having no shame, thinking oneself is perfect, being arrogant, constant envy, special treatment, exploitation of others without caring for feelings, and having bad boundaries or limits." Natasha prattled off, each Avenger having a sicker feeling in there gut.

"…So you're saying that if Stark wasn't on our side, he could be a Loki." Clint deadpanned, and Fury sighed, looking away.

"To be honest, Stark is a weapon genius. He has a thinking pattern that makes him unpredictable, he hides his emotions in such way that even Shield cannot predict his next move." Fury growled, rubbing his one good eye, showing how tired he actually was.

"…Director, if we were ever to fight Stark, what would our chances be?" Steve asked quietly, causing Fury to look up with a grim smile.

"If we were at war against a single man? How do you think we would do, Rodgers?"

Steve shifted in his seat, thinking about the past, the ideas and thoughts- Howard had been smart, and if Tony was just as smart, he would be a tricky foe.

"I don't think we would win unscathed."

"Captain- if we were ever to fight Stark, our chances would be less then you singlehandedly fighting Loki."

"That's impossible- Stark's only one man." Clint added, frowning at how the situation turned.

"A single man with a mental illness, PTSD, and an IQ rivaling Einstein's." Bruce muttered, causing Steve to frown.

"After Stark escaped from the Ten Rings, he slaughtered every single one, destroying the entire group." Natasha stated, causing Steve to stiffen slightly and Clint to look up in surprise.

"He…killed an entire Terrorist group? The ones that captured him before? He didn't give them to the authorities?" Bruce choked out, looking slightly sick.

"Banner- he killed a total of Two Hundred Twelve Men in less than four hours." Natasha clarified, and Steve now was unsure.

This man was on his team?

"You asked what would happen in war against him?" Fury asked, leaning back with a frown before narrowing his eye on Steve, "Stark has contacts, money, brains, people working for him, and is as impossible to get rid of as a wart-" He sighed, a slight twitch of the lips showing a grim smile.

"Captain- if we were ever against Stark, there wouldn't be a fight- we'd be dead already."


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark was many things, arrogant, stuck up, rather cocky of himself, but one thing he wasn't, was blind.

So, after the rest of the 'gang' returned to the Avengers Tower, he wasn't oblivious to the stares they gave him when they thought he wasn't looking.

Did Fury rant on about him, because he was stuck fixing his armor from the last battle? Even if his armor was fixed, he still probably would have ignored Fury's call and sat back in the lab, tinkering on a toaster Thor had managed to melt…again.

But as he walked around the kitchen, scanning the shelves for any sort of food to help him create a sandwich, part of his mind took count of how quiet the room got from what he previously heard in the hallway.

He grabbed a small packet of cold cuts before taking the desired slices of bread and pretending to be occupied as he briefly watched them out of the corner of his eyes, wondering why they suddenly seemed so paranoid.

Once spreading the appropriate amount of sliced turkey did Tony look up again, briefly meeting Clint's eyes, who looked down once more, he didn't miss the way Clint's hand moved ever so slightly towards his back, where Tony suspected he and Natasha hid guns.

As for a glance would impose such threat that a gun needed to be involved confused Tony.

So- he decided to push it.

He grabbed his plate with the sandwich and walked over, hopping the back of the couch while setting his feet up on the coffee table, eyebrows lifting questioningly while Clint and Steve tensed suddenly.

"…Get your feet off the table, Stark." Natasha scowled, Tony rolling his eyes at her before taking an exaggerated bite and keeping his feet firmly on the table.

Bruce had given a small sigh of relief, obviously one that Tony was not supposed to hear. It wasn't something that concerned him, but it obviously led to confusion once again.

"So, what did old Nicky want this time?" Tony smirked, smile faltering slightly as he noticed the slightly fearful faces.

"Whoa whoa- Loki didn't escape, right? I really don't want to deal with him again." Tony groaned, plate abandoned on the table as he collapsed back into the couch, pillows muffling his impact.

"Nay, Friend Stark, my brother has not escaped." Thor boomed back, trying his best to sound normal, but by the way, Tony's eyes narrowed slightly, he knew it was hopeless.

"So why does it look like you all just ran over a puppy?" Tony asked, eyebrows lifting as he glanced at everyone, eyes resting on a scowling Natasha.

"You have a morbid imagination, Stark. Fury wanted us to go over recent events and property damage relating to our last battle." She sighed, and Clint snorted on her other side.

"Hey- in my defense those aliens were tough!"

"They were two feet tall, Stark." Clint muttered, causing Natasha to smirk victorious as Tony grumbled and grabbed the empty plate, walking towards the dishwasher.

"So why were you there, Big Green? You weren't there during the battle." Tony pointed out, noticing the way Bruce stiffened, and how the others gave a pointed look.

"I- err, Fury wanted me to find out how those aliens were able to eat metal, turns out they just have really strong teeth." He gave a weak laugh, rubbing the back of his head at the base of his neck.

Liar- "So is it something I can add to the suit? Teeth dust?" Tony grinned, noticing how Bruce relaxed, thinking he hadn't caught his obvious lie.

"I don't think so, once separated it's too fragile to hold up on its own before crumbling." Bruce sighed, Tony giving a fake frustrated sigh before hopping over, Steve ignoring his eye.

"Did you repair your suit from the attack?" Natasha asked, and Tony sighed.

"I practically had to make a new one- it's not like I can just fix an entire leg." He nodded, holding up a mug of coffee to show the others before making his way towards the stairs to his underground lab.

"I'm building; don't bug me unless it's been three days or something's on fire." Tony called back, ignoring Bruce's sound of protest on how 'three day's isn't healthy Tony!' and walked down the stairs, door automatically swinging open before he had to punch in a code.

Walking in and spinning around on his stool he glanced at the many clean topped counters before dragging his hand over the surface, holograms glowing into existence, but he hesitated, just about to bring up the blueprints for the damage his suit had taken- trying to figure out a way to control the suit without access to his left leg.

"…Jarvis, bring up live feed from the living room." Tony commanded at once, taking a sip of coffee as Jarvis responded, bringing up the camera feed.

Tony watched with a sight frown, as the group was silent, before muted lips began to move on Natasha, eyes slightly downcast.

"Jarvis- sound." Tony nodded, taking another sip.

"-d for him."

"You heard Fury; he may be out of his mind."

"But he has shown no signs!" Thor boomed, Tony wincing and Jarvis turning down the sound from the single statement.

"Are they talking about Reindeer Games, Jarvis?" Tony frowned, confused as to why he wouldn't be included with the conversation.

"Inconclusive, Sir. "

"Perfect." Tony sighed, kicking back to watch the tense group continue with their conversation.

"Doesn't mean he can't snap." Clint had muttered under his breath, eyes briefly flickering up towards the camera before freezing with a wide-eyed look.

"Shit- Tasha, there's Jarvis!" Clint cursed, jumping to his feet in alarm, causing Tony to spin around, grabbing something to help with his 'fixing' of the toaster.

"Jarvis, can you tell us if Stark has an open Video feed of us all?" Bruce asked, and Tony spun around, alarmed.

"Don't you dare, Jarvis!" He threatened, and Jarvis seemed to hesitate before answering.

"My apologize, Dr. Banner. Mr. Stark is currently repairing a toaster Mr. Odinson managed to melt. Shall I send a message to him?"

"No- that's fine Jarvis. Thanks." Bruce sighed, looking away in relief, just as Tony let out a matching sigh.

"Thanks Jarvis, you're the best."

"You're welcome, Sir."

x-(X)-x

"A little help here!" Tony shouted through the coms, twisting in the air to avoid the intent robots that chased his heels.

Static came through on the intercom before the fizzled voice of Steve answered his shout- 'We're a little busy here, Stark!' leaving him to his own panicked thoughts.

Well, not too panicked.

"Jarvis! How close are they?" He shouted, twisting to the left to avoid a sudden street sign which close lined one of his following friends.

"My scanners indicate there are at least six tracking you."

'How are they keeping up?" He shouted back, twisting and turning the other way two collided in a small fiery explosion, which sent off quite a few car alarms.

"The four remaining drones are equipped with scanning technology, as my sensors indicate. They seem to have a tracking guidance system, Sir."

"Any chance of scrambling the heat signature?" He grit out from between his teeth as he twisted, loosing another one in the side of a building, almost groaning as two more joined the fray, creating the original six once more.

"Negative, Sir. They seem to be using a visually lock on to your form."

"Shit! A visual lock? Only I use those! Crap!"

"Incoming projectile on your left side."

"I know!" Tony shouted, turning suddenly and letting the released missile slam into one of the robots, sending it flying back into the others with a large plume of rancid black smoke. Only three of the annoying little robots dared to follow through.

"Catch me if you can, soup cans!" Tony snickered, shooting up into the air while releasing a few rounds of bullets, which scraped the two, but jabbed deeply into the third, causing it to smoke and plummet quickly towards the ground below.

"Stark!"

"What do you want, Cap? I'm in the middle of something." Tony gritted through his teeth, watching as the clouds steadily grew closer and closer.

"There's an incoming giant of a robot-"

"How big?" Tony grunted out, noticing several displays that showed where the altitude was harming his already hurt suit.

"Helicopter size."

"On my way." Tony sighed, flaring out wings before turning and diving in a free fall, shooting past the two drones, which turned to follow him again.

He grit his teeth, briefly seeing Thor near another rooftop, sending drones flying with each swipe of his hammer, Natasha below, shooting in sync with Clint, whose many arrows stuck out of enemy visors.

Tony did see the giant machine that Steve was talking about, slightly larger than a helicopter, the body a mix between a hippo and a spider, gears and pipes creating rusty pipes while large headlights glowed a creepy red to mimic eyes.

"Oh- that's the big deal." Tony muttered the thing turning and letting out a roar in his general direction, thick black exhaust blew from the pipes in its teeth, muffling its head for a moment before it cleared, glaring and starting to lift one of its eight legs.

"Jarvis! Are there any weak points?" Tony shouted, dodging left while the fat rusty leg took a swipe at him.

"Scans are inconclusive, Sir."

"Fine! Take them when I get closer!" He shouted, blasting forward and across the things back, taking a few test shots over the outer shell of the thing, avoiding the legs as it stomped in anger as he managed to tweak a few pipes and gears from its back.

"Stark, get back! Your attack isn't working!" Steve shouted, and Tony scoffed inside his suit, Steve thought he was attacking? That was preposterous.

"I see that, Cap." Tony grunted back, swerving left to avoid clamping gears and pipes that made up the monsters mouth.

"Regroup! We need a plan!"

"I've got a plan! Attack!" Tony immediately responded, eyes flickering over the screens that the close up scans had shown for the giant.

"Okay- hollow inside, furnace located in the chest and skull- what? Only three locks holding the legs in place?" Tony scoffed, changing direction and quickly firing a blast at one of its eight legs. The beast groaned, turning and glaring with red eyes as more smoke poured from its mouth.

"Stark!"

"I've got this!" He shouted back, opening the feed to all of his teammates before firing one more at the same leg, allowing the blast to snap the joint next to the body before he blasted down, grabbing the leg, itself before it had enough momentum to collapse.

"Sir, power levels are not high enough for a continues hold."

"Can we leech from this thing?" Tony grunted back, trying to pull himself back up the uneven ground of the monsters constantly moving and shifting back.

"Of course, Sir. Connection must be created at the nearest platform."

"Getting there, Jarvis." Tony grunted, metal of its severed leg caving in as his hands dug in harder for a better grip, and slowly he dragged a foot up, advancing up the back of the thing.

He briefly noticed other smaller drones, and how the ones that had been chasing him were shot down, but now, dragging a gigantic leg up the side of rusty bolts and glue seemed incredibly hard.

"Jarvis- can you redirect the thrusters into suction?" He grunted, taking another step backwards and dragging the leg with a loud shrieking noise.

"Negative sir, the thrusters would not be able to handle the stress."

"Perfect-"He gasped, feet digging in harder as the beast shifted, spinning to try and throw him off.

"If I may suggest so, Sir. Perhaps you should use the attachment as a form of traction?"

Tony could have hit himself for his stupidity.

He turned, grabbing the leg further down and throwing it up, grinning under the helmet as the sharp tip of the leg pierced the thick armor of rust and corroding copper. The beast howled, steam and smoke bursting out of its mouth, severed leg stump, and the hole in its back.

"Stark! What are you doing?"

"Climbing this thing!" Tony shouted back, gaining a few feet before ripping the leg out with a loud grinding noise, spare parts flying through the air before he slammed it back into its back, causing it to screech even louder as the leg sunk in deeper, leaving enough room for him to climb onto a flat area of its back.

"Jarvis! Start the power absorption!" Tony shouted, small electrodes snapping off from his feet and attaching to the behemoth, electricity trailing up its length before it started into his suit.

"Power at 69% and climbing, Sir."

"Leave it on the screen!" Tony shouted, pulling up on the leg and jamming it in even further into the same hole, causing the monster to create an even louder screech, its legs giving out as it collapsed onto the ground, legs spread out, twitching, and stump flailing madly as Tony gritted his teeth, and forced the appendage deeper into its back.

"Sir, scans suggest that you have punctured the creature's central furnace system. Energy absorption is a negative, Sir."

"How much is already drained?" Tony grunted, now trying to hold the leg steady as the best twisted and trembled on the ground.

"My sources indicate near 67% of power has been drained. Remaining energy is depleting rapidly. Sensors indicate molten metal rising, Sir."

Tony barely managed to start his thrusters before melting slag poured out of the gashes on its side. With a quick yank upward, the leg was pulled free, glowing orange with heat before he slammed it through the monster's head, its jaw dropping and more of the molten slag pouring out from the furnace in its head. The air filled with a horrible wet dripping noise and the smell of burning plastic and smoke.

Tony flipped off the monster, looking at his handiwork before looking at his team, drones on the ground all around. He looked at each of them, stony faced or simply ignoring him all together. Bruce had shifted back, wearing his emergency stash of clothing that he always seemed to re-supply, and Thor was frowning, gently prodding a drone with his boot.

"…I got it." Tony briefly stated, trying to break the ice as he flicked his visor open, preferring to hear their voices not through a com. Link.

"Man of Iron, was the stabbing of the beast necessary?" Thor grumbled, and now Tony realized why they weren't looking at him, the corpse of the metal contraption was still behind him.

"Hey- we didn't want it on rampage, right?" He defended, crossing his arms and scowling slightly as Natasha frowned.

"You could have just cut its throat, Stark. Not stab it eight times and suck it dry." She growled, and Tony's eyes widened shortly.

Cut its throat? That would be muchmore risky.

"Well sorry if this was worse! It got the job done, didn't it?" Tony seethed and Steve looked up, eyes flashing.

"You may have gotten the job done- but you didn't have to maul it!"

"It's a machine! It-"Tony's voice trailed off as he recognized the look on their faces, a mixture between fear and disappointment.

"I- You think I'd do that to a living thing? That- I- That was a robot! A machine!" He weakly defended, waving his arm towards the slag-leaking machine behind him.

"Is that what Jarvis is? A machine you can stab ten times because slicing its throat is too risky?" Natasha spat, crossing her arms before collecting her knife from a nearby drone and stalking off to where she and Clint had parked their ride. Bruce sighed, following Steve, whom he was showing the town, and Thor took to the skies himself, leaving Tony all alone with the approaching SHIELD to clean up the mess.

"…I'm sorry guys." He weakly stated, knowing very well that they couldn't hear.

But in fact, he didn't feel guilt.


	3. Chapter 3

"Stark."

Tony flipped one eye open, peering up at Natasha who had a file folder in one hand, a scowl set on her face.

"Fury wants the report in by six- get to work." She scowled, slapping the folder onto the edge of the sofa where he was currently sprawled out, taking a break from scanning through the articles on attempts to re-create an Artificial Intelligence system.

"You can tell Fury to write his own report." Tony muttered, Natasha ignored him, continuing out of the room, leaving him with the manila folder.

With a sigh, he reached for the folder, hoping that something inside could help distract him from the headache induced searching over the machine.

Of course, it had to be about the machine.

He sighed, flipping through a few photos of the machine taken from security cameras on surrounding buildings. Taking note of the computer scanned images as what the SHIELD scientists' assumed the creature looked like on the inside.

'The creature's core solidified only hours after being brought in, making further experiments impossible.' He read a slight smirk.

"Should have kept the slag molten." He murmured under his breath, looking at the photo's of the damaged hole, and the image replicated of a brand stamped on the inside furnace of the thing, the top half of it wrecked beyond fixing.

The brand consisted of what looked like six legs and the bottom of something extending further out, the rest was destroyed.

"Jarvis- can you replicate this photo and project it?" Tony asked, setting it on the table where a light scanned it before a duplicate set in blue hovered a few inches from the surface.

"Thanks- get rid of the borders and enlarge it." Tony responded, sifting through the evidence before coming to the blank form, which was half filled out.

"Do you wish for me to edit and repair all photo disruptions?"

"Sure- then zoom in on the broken logo. Scan the Military weapon providers for similar logos."

"Of course Sir. Shall I relate this search with the information regarding Artificial Intelligence?"

"Keep the two separate- tell me if anything matches up between the two." Tony mumbled through the pen cap in his mouth, looking at the sheet and adding his opinion on the threat level of the monster.

They worked in silence, Tony glancing up occasionally to look over the city, or to take a break and get a few drinks. He always worked better when he couldn't think as hard.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you fill one of these out."

Tony looked up, spotting Bruce standing in the doorway awkwardly, hands crammed in his pocket.

"Thought you ran off to South America." Tony responded, clicking off one of the bubbles asking if the monster used metal or was composed of it. (Who made these questions?)

"Nah- I think the Other Guy got me on the 'no-fly' list." Bruce shrugged, walking further into the room.

Tony gave a slight hum of agreement before looking up lazily.

"You know, I can fix that. Jarvis-"

"Dr. Banner status has been removed from airport security systems."

"Thanks- you were saying?" Tony asked, offering a glass of something that dulled his head to the other man, Bruce would deny anyways.

"Fury's been upset. That metal thing-"

"The 'Slagner' apparently." Tony added carelessly, noting Bruce's slack-jawed look with a chuckle.

"No joke- and it wasn't me, I swear." Tony grinned, holding his pen up in defense while he showed Bruce the typed word.

"The Slagner? That's worse than last week's 'Metal Muncher!'" Bruce exclaimed almost in horror, Tony giving a hum of agreement before clicking off another bubble that asked if the thing had created any property damage.

"I tell you, SHEILD is just running out of names, I made a deal with them they couldn't steal names from bands." Tony stated calmly, noticing Bruce's blank look.

"They wanted to name that Metal Muncher, 'The Iron Maiden'. Nope, not going to stand for that." Tony grunted, clicking his pen shut and setting the documents down, finally finished.

"Anyways, Clint was thinking about going out for Pizza, Thor has something to do in New Mexico, Natasha is with SHIELD, and Steve was going to meet us there. You up for it?" Bruce asked a slightly hopeful look in his eyes. A crooked grin as Tony's response, and Bruce mirrored a smile back.

"I'll be right there- I just need to grab my phone." Tony smirked, Bruce giving a small wave before turning for the elevator.

Tony shuffled around until he saw the doors close, stopping what he was doing and pulling his phone from his pocket and clicking it on.

"Jarvis- reroute all information on that logo and AI into this phone. Get me all of Fury's personal notes on it, and Bruce's." Tony spoke quickly, spotting the screen begin to download the data.

"Sir, do you believe it is wise to do such thing?"

"What, lie behind their backs? Trust me Jarvis-"Tony started, hand in the elevator as he looked back at the room.

"- I have a bad feeling about this. If anybody tries to find out what we're doing, put up firewalls."

"Of course, Sir. Shall Mrs. Potts be aware of your speculations?"

"…No." Tony stated after some hesitation, and although Jarvis did not say anything, Tony knew he was surprised.

"I- I don't want her to get hurt. The less that know, the better." Tony stated firmly, stepping into the elevator and letting Jarvis automatically start to send him down to the garage.

"But Sir-"

"No Jarvis. Only we know." Tony stated firmly, the rest of the ride branching into silence before walking out when the doors opened, grinning through his sunglasses that he snatched from a table he set there for the reason to put his glasses there.

Clint and Bruce were already waiting, Clint leaned back and at ease sitting on the hood of the car, they were taking (The only one with more than two seats).

"Huh, I didn't know this car had more than two seats." Bruce shrugged as Tony walked in, looking at one, he was admiring, and Clint was lounging on.

"It doesn't- it's a custom made one." Tony smirked, walking in and tossing the keys in his hand as the two looked up, Clint smirking.

"So- a Jag? Took you more for a Porsche type." Clint grinned, and Tony smirked right back.

"Nah- more an Audi guy, get in." Tony snapped, forcing Clint to the somewhat cramped backseat, Bruce sitting on his right as he let the engine purr, looking in the mirror at the grouchy assassin.

"Bird-boy. If you throw up, you're paying for the leather." Tony smirked before flooring and shooting out of the garage with so much as a lurch.

"Slow down Stark! You're going to kill us!" Clint screeched, hanging onto the armrests with such fear, the leather almost split under his pressing fingers.

"Please, Tweedie, I've been driving these cars for more than a decade, have some faith." Tony scoffed, overtaking some slow Mini Van that was moving at a painfully slow pace.

"Don't the cops ever get you?" Clint shouted back, Bruce looking out the window to hide his smile.

"The cops long ago tried! Now they just ignore me, it's not like they can catch me!" Tony laughed, putting on more speed and causing Clint too see stars as Tony near collided with an oncoming truck before skillfully swerving to cause Clint's window to come within inches of the other trucks mirror.

For the second half of the rather quick car ride, Clint was completely silent, eyes squeezed tight, and occasionally cursing when Tony veered suddenly to avoid another car.

Bruce, however, was enjoying himself, actually having his window rolled down and letting the fast airbrush through his hair in a carefree action.

They pulled into said pizzeria that they would be eating at, sliding perfectly in next to a motorcycle Tony immediately recognized as Steve (After all, he was the one that picked it out)

The next few minutes were a blur of camera flashes, bribed waiters, greasy cheese that would make a teenager break out, and enough pop to fill a water trough.

Lounging around on the bench seats, Tony looked up from his phone, still aware enough to scan through all the information Jarvis had transported onto his mobile device.

"So, Pizza change from your time?" Clint casually asked Steve, who was taking a sip from his drink, who looked over smiling.

"Completely different. There wasn't this much cheese before." Steve clarified, pulling a spare slice to show how the cheese stretched like a rubber band, glistening in the light.

"You're lucky you're not affected by it. This will clog up your arteries." Tony grinned, looking up and taking an exaggerated chomp out of the piece he had left.

Bruce smiled slightly, before the group started blinking as bright camera flashes started to blind them- Steve throwing up his arms to shield his eyes from the sudden flashes.

"Oh no." Tony groaned, glaring at the flashes as they subsided slightly, revealing a red haired reporter, pen and microphone already clipped at her waste, although she seemed more preoccupied with photos than anything.

"Hey- you, I thought we said to tell us when the press came." Tony waved their waiter down, who was blushing in her embarrassment.

"I- I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark- they, they snuck through the back, I-"

"Leave her, Tony. She didn't know." Bruce waved her off, keeping his eyes peeled at the slightly annoyed Tony who continued to glare at the reporter, who continued to flash the camera, now disrupting other eating customers.

"Miss, I must ask you to leave. You're disrupting my customers." A woman frowned, walking out from the back room, whipping her hands on a part of her apron, a frown on her aged face, now focused on the reporter.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The reporter responded, speaking sickly sweet as she puckered her bright lipstick stained lips in a fake pout.

"Oh- then you won't mind leaving." The woman responded, crossing her arms as their waiter from before mouthed towards them 'the owner'.

"Leaving? Oh, I don't think that is necessary." The reporter sweetly responded, sending off another flash, just for fun, before the sick smile slid from her face and her voice lowered an octave as she glared at the owner.

"So, unless you want me, to end your little life and grind it into such tiny pieces, than even an ant would walk all over it!" She growled, spontaneously smiling, the sweet tone adopted once more.

"Now shoo!" She giggled, waving her hands in a shooing type manor, causing the owner to grit her teeth in annoyance.

"If you think, that you can make me leave from my own restaurant-"

"Please. I make more money in paycheck then you do in a year. Now get out of my sight, your smell is giving me a headache." The reporter sneered, flipping her hair over her shoulder while she looked back at the Avengers, about to take another hundred-dollar photo.

"If I were you, I'd wait, Stephanie Humbarks." Tony flippantly called, clicking away on his phone while she looked at him in alarm, the other people looking surprised at the sudden call.

"Tony, what are you-"Clint asked, wary as Tony waved him off, glancing up at the reporter.

"Now, if you're smart, you'll leave this fine establishment." Tony icily responded, causing the woman to glare, lips curling and she placed one manicured hand on her hip, huffing loudly.

"Never thought I'd be having an argument with Tony Stark." She shot back, hoping Tony would budge.

Not a chance.

"This isn't an argument, this is a threat. If you don't leave right now, I can destroy your credit scores, zero your bank account, cancel that…third wedding you're planning, and count you as a sex offender in twenty four states." His lips curled in an amused smirk as he met her eyes, "The fun part is finding out which states."

She looked at him; eyes alit with horror and fear, although she huffed, trying to keep her tough act in play while ignoring the obvious wavering of her voice.

"You wouldn't do that-"

"You saying I bluff? You published an article before about how the world would improve with my death, my fault for the racing incident in Monaco, accusing my clean energy programme of pollution and chemical mutations, and you have the nerve to walk in with a pretty face and try to buy your way into fame?" He snorted, folding up the pizza box while she glared, lip curling and arms trembling.

"Now, scram, before I grow bored of your cheep perfume and second hand heels, and press this little button on my phone." He twisted the screen, showing a little screen questioning his actions.

Steve watching in fascination, as the woman bolted, leaving the owner watching in shocked awe as Tony apologized smoothly over the accident, and slipped her a few hundred-dollar bills before letting the blushing waiter rush over and package up the remaining pizza, wishing them a better day.

Tony relaxed, at ease while pretending to close his eyes, although peeking through his eyelashes to see the monochrome image of Clint look at Steve in alarm- was it something he had done?

Bruce too, was eyeing him warily, as if he was a rabid dog that would lash out at any moment, when did they give him such uneasy glances. When did they…dare he say it, fear him?

Tony flashed his eyes open the moment the waiter set the cardboard boxes on the table with a muffled 'thud' smiling awkwardly once more before vanishing, tending to her other tables.

"Well- shall we go?" Tony asked, rising and looking at the others, Steve wincing when his legs stuck to the vinyl of the seat before he pulled it off.

They walked towards the door, Steve hesitating before pulling out his keys and tossing them unexpectedly towards Tony, who caught them on reflex, blinking in surprise ad with a slight frown.

"Thought you might want to ride my bike- you never get to." Steve shrugged, Tony giving a slight smile and a nod before tossing his keys over, giving a wave before pulling out his phone once out of sight.

"Jarvis, I want an audio link to everything that they're saying inside that car." He muttered, pressing the speaker to his ear.

"Of course, Sir. Don't you believe this is paranoia?"

"I'm not sure anymore, make the link through my Bluetooth." Tony stated, clicking the phone shut and sliding said device into his ear before setting the helmet over his head, flicking down the visor and briefly praising his look from the restaurants window reflection.

Well, didn't he look…good.

He revved the engine, smiling with approval with the corresponding purr and the static crackling of voices that quickly came into focus.

"Hey, let's wait until Stark leaves." It was obviously Clint from the tone of voice.

Tony gave a one armed salute before burning rubber, jumping the curb and landing on the high traffic, easily weaving with less care as he eavesdropped, blasting through a yellow light.

"Okay, he's gone."

"No joke there- if he wrecks my bike, he's buying a new one."

"Please Steve; I'm sure Tony would love to buy you a new bike, this one with a little bell and whistles."

Tony chuckled, already the sight of his tower looming higher and higher as he approached, he noticed one cop car who didn't even attempt to chase him, twenty miles over the speed limit wasn't within the cop's care zone.

He turned, tires squealing as he rid up the ramp to his garage, over the visitors cars, pulling into the white and glass room all the while maintaining a link on a conversation filled mostly with laughter and comments about nearby pedestrians. Apparently they were stuck behind a truck at a red light that was labeled 'Banana me crazy!' or something along those lines.

"So…Stark. Anyone else feel a little freaked out about that reporter chick?"

Tony froze, halfway to the elevator before turning looking at where his car would be turning in eventually.

"He- yeah… you're right Clint, he scared me a little too."

Scared? Captain America being scared? He wasn't in the face of danger or against Loki, what was messing with him.

"I don't know, guys."

"Oh, so you think Fury's lying and Stark won't go all insane and try to kill us in our sleep?" Clint shot back, causing Tony's breath to hitch.

"Tony wouldn't do that!"

"Please, Bruce….just- I what do you think? You're the scientific person, you can tell us about mental health and all that, right. Is he? Is he going to be like another Loki?"

"I- I don't know…"

It was Bruce's small soft reply that caused Tony to choke, turning and punching the nearest panel of glass, he watched it fall while his hand- strangely, wasn't harmed.

He walked away, taking out the blue tooth and crunching it beneath his feet, as if the act of it being destroyed would destroy the possibility of what they said being true.

He walked towards his emergency storage area filled with Gin, and took a swig from the bottle itself, not bothering to grab a crystal cup from the side, then hesitated, setting the bottle back on the rack. He'd need his brain intact to be able to plan his next move.

They thought he was a threat. They thought he was insane. Fine, let them think that.

"Jarvis, what houses do I have?" tony spoke, already walking towards his desk, grabbing a portable file folder to store projects he was currently working on, practically snatching the mystery of that signature marking, and the AI production.

"Sir, you have one house residing in Monaco, Cuba, Papa New Guinea, Australia, Sweden, India, France, Italy, two in Canada on each coast, Russia, and Brazil , several throughout the United States."

"Hmm." Tony hummed, waving Jarvis to continue.

"Yeah, uh, narrow the search to Canada, where exactly?" Tony asked, moving more plans onto the file drive.

"House number one, located on Vancouver Island near Vancouver in the British Territories Canada. It overlooks the ocean and is built with twelve guest rooms, ten baths as well as a fully stocked kitchen, garage; however it does not have a completed lab."

"And the other?" He asked, looking up shortly.

"The other is located on The Bay of Fundy, the western shore of Nova Scotia Canada. It is a ocean view with six rooms with five baths. There is no garage however; there is a boat launch nearby. There is a fully stocked kitchen and lab."

Tony hummed his throat, pausing as he thought.

"The homes in the U.S?"

"There are currently nine."

"List them."

"A large estate located on the outskirts of Las Vegas Nevada. A small estate hidden in the Rocky Mountains in northern California. A small estate located in Malibu California, a medium estate located In Seattle Washington, a large estate located in Madison Wisconsin, a small estate in Mackinaw Island Michigan, a medium home located in Orlando Florida, a large manor hidden in eastern Maine, and the current Stark Towers located in New York."

"And the least likelihood of the others finding me in any of these houses?"

"The least chance of discovery would be in Madison, Wisconsin."

"And the chances?"

"67%, Sir."

Tony cursed, banging his fist against the tabletop as he thought, swiping his hand through a nearby hologram.

"How about North America, does that help my chances?"

"Shall I include Cuba, Sir?"

"Leave it out; the damn security is hard to get in and out of." Tony mentioned, Jarvis calculating the chances.

"The least likely hood of being discovered would be at your small home in Nova Scotia, Canada, with a percentage chance of 42%."

"Better than nothing- Jarvis organize my flight; delete all records of this discussion and of my arrival here at the tower. Pepper is in Japan talking to some business people or something, and besides her, Rhodey is the only other one who knows where I am…make sure Platypus is out of the way, I don't want him dragged into this."

"Of course not, Sir. Shall I call a car to drive you to your personal jet?"

"Just get me Happy, tell him I need a break or I'm going to snap under the stress. Make sure Fury can't trace the call."

"Will that be all, Sir?"

"Let Pepper or Rhodey contact me if only they say it's an emergency. Re-route all calls from the Avengers or Fury back here; make them think I've dropped off the map. "

"The way you are advancing, Sir, I am starting to assume you will fake your own death."

"Then you'd be out of a job." Tony smirked, looking at the AI system he had so fondly created.

"Yes, Sir. Shall I alert you if New York is under serious threat of another hostile invasion of any kind?"

"Only if the others can't handle it." Tony nodded, already walking out and up the elevator to where he knew he'd be able to relax in the peace and quiet until Happy got there.

"How shall I alert the others of your absence, Sir?"

"Let them know." Tony shrugged, eyes flashing open as the doors opened and showed the wide-open terrace overlooking the other buildings that were surprisingly beautiful so far below.

"Just show them the audio feed you got. I know you recorded it Jarvis. Only let them hear once I'm gone and my trail is clean- give Happy a holiday after I'm gone. Send him to…Denver, he likes to ski, right? Colorado has good skiing spots, right?"

"Yes Sir. Shall the expenses be paid for by Stark Industries?"

"Of course- speaking of Happy, where is he?"

"Mr. Hogan is currently three miles away."

"And the others?"

"Are eight point nine miles away. It seems that Mr. Barton has stopped to retrieve movies from a nearby rental store."

"Perfect." Tony nodded, pausing and looking out once more with a frown.

"By the way, lock my liquor cabinets."

"Of course, Sir."


	4. Chapter 4

Tony relaxed, lounging in a comfortable brown chair that overlooked the cliff face and water so far below, similar to his Malibu home.

There was an odd…peacefulness that seemed to fill the tiny house, a thick fog that cleared and yet dulled his usually ADD thoughts.

So, instead of holograms surrounding his every sight with loud ACDC or Black Sabbath blaring loud enough to make his head throb.

Here, he had only one screen, roughly the size of a laptop on a glass side table, not a single whisper of music, although Jarvis amplified the sound of the waves on rocks and the loud gulls from outside.

Huh, looks like Bruce  _didn't_ use a bag of weed.

"Jarvis, can you cross reference this sign with any others we've seen on other mech we've fought?" Tony sighed, glaring at the bottom half of a logo that continued to mock him, he wanted to find that sign just so he could destroy it.

_"Scanning….scanning….scanning complete. Two matches found."_

Tony started upward, looking at the screen and pulling it up, looking at the results.

"What are they, Jarvis?" Tony asked eyes alight as suddenly all of the results appeared upon the glass windows, blocking the view as he jumped to his feet, moving aside a few useless articles.

"Pull up the images with the logo- do a complete scan and show me the copy rate. And project." Tony nodded, a few blips and a completed logo stood in front of him.

It was an odd logo, reminding Tony slightly of the SHEILD logo. It was a scorpion facing forward, the bottom half of the creature being what Tony was familiar with. The words below were straight across and almost in a military font stating boldly S.C.O.R.P.

"Scorp? Is that it? It doesn't read 'Scorpion' or anything? It's just…scorp?" Tony asked, frowning as he looked at the intricate metal design.

_"Correct sir. This logo only has the initials creating the word 'S.C.O.R.P'"_

"Okay- where are they found?" Tony sighed, flicking away a few articles related to scorpions, not the logo.

_"The logo was found on the inside shell of numerous metal components found on the drones of Ivan Vanko, and on the inside design of Obadiah Stane's metal suit."_

"What?" Tony gasped, bolting upright as Jarvis replayed the security feed of people panicking while the Hammer Drones flew around, shooting things in sight. The frame froze, zooming in on the tiny quarter size logo imprinted on a weapon shoved into the Drones arm- showing the scorpion sign.

"Okay, Hammer employed these people- Jarvis, which prison has Hammer in it?" Tony asked, exhaling shakily as Jarvis searched.

_"Justin Hammer is located in the National Prison."_

"Interesting name, does SHEILD have any links there?" Tony asked after muttering under his breath.

_"SHEILD has tracers and scanners over three of the prison's inhabitants. Justin Hammer is not under SHEILD watch, Sir."_

"Perfect, do you think I can organize a meeting with him?"

_"The security of the prison is extremely secure, Sir. These prisoners are never to be released to the public in fear of attempting uprising."_

"So?" Tony prodded, frowning slightly at the description.

_"I will look into that, Sir. Where would you like to meet with Mr. Hammer?"_

"Hmm- any nearby empty plane hangars?" Tony asked with a hum, pulling up the information himself.

_"Sir, you are suggesting a transportation of Mr. Hammer to the location of your choosing?"_

"Well- can't let the others catch a whiff of me in some prison; they may get the wrong idea with them thinking I'm going evil." Tony sniffed, looking away with a growing scowl on his face.

_"Perhaps an exchange should be made? Mr. Hammer is brought outside the compound under military watch?"_

"No- that would still make it look suspicious, but the military can get  _in."_

Tony lurched to his feet, moving in walk before it turned into pacing while he rambled on and on about what he thought, letting Jarvis listen patiently.

"Rhodey! He can get in- say it's some military business and needs to know more about the Hammer Drones- then he can link me through to Hammer! But how would he do that- the phone isn't really a good idea, SHEILD could trace it- Skype? No, it would be odd to carry in a laptop…"

_"Perhaps you should communicate through the tablet you issued Colonel Rhodes some time ago."_

"Genius!" Tony beamed, dropping back down into his chair as he smirking, as if he won the lottery.

"Jarvis feed me through to Platypus." Tony grinned, waiting as he heard the dial tone throughout the room he was sitting in.

 _"…Hello?"_  After a click and a fumbling noise, Rhodey's voice filled the room.

"Platypus!" Tony cried out, and Rhodey on the other line chuckled tiredly.

_"Tony. Let me guess- you got in trouble with the military again?"_

"Haha no." Tony scowled, Rhodey laughing playfully with his response.

_"Nice to hear. What do you need? I have a feeling this isn't a social call. Saw you on the TV with those Avenger people- just to let you know, we did NOT send that nuke in-"_

"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it. Anyways, I'm doing some solo inventing for a while-"

_"Tony, by going solo you made a robot that has a fascination with fire extinguishers."_

"Hey- in my defense he ruined my clothes too!"

_"You still owe me a new suit."_

"Yeah yeah- anyways, I need you to do me a favor…"

_"Spit it out, Tony."_

"I need you to meet with Hammer and link me through on a tablet so I can question him a few things." Tony blurted, the other side of the line going quiet a few moments, probably Rhodey moving to a more secluded area.

 _"Tony are you crazy!"_ Rhodey hissed under his breath, and Tony sighed into his hand, listening to Rhodey's rant.

_"You can't just expect me to walk into a high security prison! Those people would kill me! No- they would find me, break everyone in my body then eat me!"_

"Eat you?" Tony asked dryly, Rhodey made a scoffing noise and Tony could imagine him throwing his arms into the air.

_"Hell if I know what prison people eat!"_

"Look Rhodey-"

_"No! You listen to me! I'm not going to go through with this again! I might get kicked off, because you wanted me to run one of your little favors!"_

"I-"

_"No! Give me one good reason why I should help you. And don't pull that friend card, Tony. You know my job is important to me.'_

Tony sat on the couch, rubbing his temples while he decided whether to tell- he could endanger his friend if he did…

_"Look Tony, I've got to go-"_

"Hammer may have whereabouts of a weapon manufacturer that's been helping him with his Drones and Obie's suit. He's building monsters and setting them loose in the city, and I need to find the manufacturer." Tony blurted at once, a small feeling of hope rising as he realized the phone hadn't been disconnected.

_"…What?"_

"That bad." Tony sympathized for the shocked tone Rhodey used, wincing at the crackling silence on the other side.

_"…Fine. What's the cover story, Stark?"_

"The truth. You need information regarding Justin's Hammer Drones for military purposes." Tony smoothly responded, hearing Rhodey scoff at the other end.

_"Military purposes? Yeah, that'll happen the day you make a cake for that Captain America fellow."_

"…Yeah, you know me too well." Tony chuckled, practically hearing Rhodey's smile on the other side.

_"So, take what with me?"_

"Just the tablet if you can, I'll be able to make communication from that and knock out the camera's if Jarvis has a strong enough feed. As soon as you enter, just stall him a few moments before we've got them down."

_"Got it. When do you need to talk with him?"_

"Sooner the better." Tony shrugged, leaning back on his seat.

_"I'm free tomorrow at One. I'll call you before I get inside."_

"Got it." Tony nodded, and Rhodey paused a moment on the line, obviously suffering pride to ask him-

_"You're not making one of those life changing decisions again, right?"_

"Well, Platypus, you'll be glad to know that I've got you in my will just in case." Tony snickered, he could practically hear Rhodey's eye roll before he hung up.

"Jarvis- feed a link to the tablet Rhodey has." Tony stated once he too hung up from the call.

_"Already done, Sir."_

"Well, aren't you independent today?" Tony smirked, looking up at a monitor as he prepared a drink at the bar.

_"I try my best, Sir."_

"Of course you do." Tony smiled, looking out over the water just as a whale breached in the distance.

He could get used to this.


	5. Chapter 5

_"Tony? I'm going in."_

Tony gave a grim smile from the computer he sat at, looking and monitoring the link he had with the tablet as Rhodey walked past security, making his way to said cell that held a certain wanted criminal.

"Got that, Platypus, we're in the security." Tony responded over the feed, glancing at the many screens he held in the workshop as he flitted through the security cameras and positioning of each jail cell door.

"Security is on loop, you're free." Tony added once he noticed Rhodey moving through the holographic halls Jarvis had constructed on a miniature model.

_"Got it, thanks Tony."_

"Don't thank me yet." Tony warned, feeling the urge to knock on wood strongly as said words echoed in the room.

Tony watched, monitoring and editing the computer records that had Rhodey's visit recorded as well as changing the schedule, leaving the guards on the other side of the building as Rhodey filled him through, just to be safe.

After a few seconds of tapping away and messing with the guards, a small beep indicated that the feed was available to open with. Tony spun in his chair, leaning back as he looked at the screen, which showed what the tablet Rhodey was issued with displayed.

"Hammer." Tony greeted with a smirk, Justin Hammer, or what he once was, scowled at him from the other side.

Hammer still had his glasses, obviously bent, probably from some tussle. His clothing that used to be suits that tried to impersonate Tony's own, was now replaced with a wrinkled orange jumpsuit with a five-digit code that was his prison number.

_"Stark. I would ask why you're here, but you sent in some hired help instead. Come to gloat?"_

"You wish." Tony nodded off flippantly; smirking at Hammer's more and more hateful glare.

"I'm here for information. Where did Vanko get the things to build those Drones?" Tony asked, tone swapping from not caring to interrogating mode.

Hammer grinned on the other side, crossing his arms (Shackled, Tony noticed) and saying nothing.

"Ah- I see. You're throwing me the silent treatment." Tony mused, and Hammer's eyes narrowed if anything.

"Well, I tried. Platypus, leave us." Tony ordered, and noticing the screen shift as he was set on the opposite bench from Hammer, briefly noticing Rhodey in the reflection of the wall leaving through the door.

It was silent a few moments as Tony and Hammer glanced and glared at each other.

_"Why are you here, Stark? Normally you'd make a real appearance before making one of your lackeys haul in a computer."_

Tony's eyes narrowed at Hammer's tone of voice. He was slightly annoyed by the way, he treated Rhodey, but he had to make sure Rhodey wouldn't be targeted if he said anything wrong.

"Can't get the wrong image going through the press- they won't get off my back anymore." Tony quipped, noticing Hammer's scowl.

_"Yes, I heard. You with a misfit group of hero's. Why couldn't you just be a normal rich guy and buy a baseball team?"_

"I'm Tony Stark." Tony spoke slowly as if Hammer couldn't understand. He almost smiled at the growl Hammer gave, almost.

"So, Vanko, where did he get the materials to build the drones?" Tony asked, leaning back and playing with the circuits, moving away one guard who moved too close to the hallway.

_"I don't have to answer to you, Stark."_

"Really? You want to play this game?" Tony sighed, looking at Hammer with one unimpressed lifted eyebrow, before sitting back, all playful attitude vanishing as if someone had just erased emotion on his face.

"Hammer Industries stock practically died when you got arrested, however you stuck the remaining power of the business to one of your employee's who is actually moving the funding money to try and bail you out of that cell. One flick of my button, and I could 'lose' a year's worth of cargo in an unfortunate warehouse fire." Tony calmly answered giving a slight hum at the end, before looking at Hammer.

His eyes were wide at being caught, before he bared his teeth in anger.

_"You try to threaten me? I've been keeping that money safe since my arrest. One warehouse of cargo doesn't mean anything to me."_

"Your bank account that holds the money's pin number is 7821, your teller is Cathy Jarkson, lives on 721 Sycamore street and can be given a very nice vacation funded by Stark Industries while her files are broken into, sadly Justin Hammer's bank account scattered and all information deleted. Bet that would put your bailout a few years back." Tony added, face voice of emotions as he noticed Hammer's horror.

_"You wouldn't have the guts to do that."_

"Hammer, I'm on a superhero team and kill aliens and metal monsters on a daily bases. Breaking into a bank for me is as hard as giving a hobo a twenty dollar bill." Tony stated dryly, causing Hammer to swallow in fear.

If Tony noticed, he didn't mention it, or he didn't care.

_"…Vanko got the metal from some metal smelter in Colorado."_

"And the weapons? The plans?" Tony pressed, causing Hammer to give him a dirty look before responding.

_"The weapons are from smuggled shipments of your own. Stark Industries made rather good bombs. My men took them apart and made them Hammer Industries."_

"Where were the Stark Weapon shipments?" Tony cut in, causing Hammer to give him a victorious grin as he shrugged, causing Tony to curl his hands into tight fists.

_"The plans were what our hackers were able to get from the rubble from your first Arc Reactor."_

"Obadiah's plans." Tony grumbled under his breath before giving a slight curse. He'd thought he got all of those…

"Fine. Do you know about anything- an agency called S.C.O.R.P.?"

At once Hammer lurched, sitting upright in alarm at the name.

_"S.C.O.R.P.? What do you know about them? What do you mean?"_

Tony's eyes narrowed as he noticed Hammer's growing anxiety of the subject.

"I know things, but that doesn't matter. What is S.C.O.R.P.?"

_"…I-"_

"Ten thousand gone. Twenty thousand gone." Tony growled, causing Hammer to strain at his chains.

_"All right! They- They shouldn't be able to tell if I tell you. They're everything, Stark. They are genius' I tell you! They have hands in everything, medical research, weapon's manufacturing, and chemical and gamma radiation. If they find you, you had better hide, Stark. Or they'll ruin you."_

"They found you, didn't they?" Tony hummed, and Justin Hammer swallowed, eyes scanning the walls.

_"Don't go looking for them Stark. I hate you, but…don't go pissing them off. You may think you and your group of misfit toys may be able to take them on, but they aren't just something you can hit with a stick, Stark."_

"To intricate with society?" Tony mused, leaning back in his chair as he watched Justin give a slight nod.

_"They've got weapons like yours. The energy blasts-"_

"Repulsors." Tony corrected, but Hammer probably hadn't heard.

_"Are just like yours. They aren't the colour though, they're red, and-"_

"Hammer, stop. You're rambling." Tony frowned, then jumped in surprise as something on his left keeping control of the security feeds started to fizzle, camera's moving without his command or shutting off entirely.

"What- Jarvis, what is going on?" Tony blinked, forgetting all about Hammer on the screen.

_"Protocol 57 Delta is in order, Sir. I detect a hacker from the opposite feed line attempting to gain control of all security measures."_

"The other side? Why would they need to hack in the prison?" Tony frowned, and Hammer visibly flinched in the cell.

_"It's S.C.O.R.P! They're here! They're-"_

"Shut up. Jarvis, open a link of the surrounding area and heat signatures."

_"Of course Sir. There are two helicopters and one car arriving at the prison base."_

"Thanks. Bring a feed up."

Tony frowned as he saw the car pull up, opening the black doors and tinted windows as a man stepped out, other following behind the blonde haired man as he walked towards the doors.

The guards walked forward, holding up a gun threateningly and calling warning. His arm trembled as the lead man took some sort of weapon out of the hands of the man on his left, aiming the large turret looking weapon at the man and door, firing off something with a high pitch whistle.

"Shit! Jarvis, analyze that." Tony ordered as he got to his feet, witnessing something with high power and brightly red in colour slam into the doors and knock them loose, burns on the outer side.

_"My scans indicate condensed energy used in a blast form."_

"You telling me they have repulsors?" Tony blinked, frowning as he heard Hammer cursing under his breath. With a huff, he pressed a button that replicated 'mute' and continued to look at the scans.

_"Correct. The repulsors used are only 15% the power of the suits, and are in a much bulkier form."_

"What about the guards? What are they doing once they find them?"

_"Heat signatures are failing rapidly. I am one to suspect that these agents are killing all guards."_

"Rhodey!" Tony shouted, jumping to his feet while Jarvis automatically pulled up a phone number, dialing rapidly.

_"Tony? What's wrong?"_

"Rhodey- you've got to get out of there!" Tony practically yelled into the device, causing Rhodey a few seconds to recover.

_"What? Tony what are you talking about?"_

"Listen to me Rhodey. You need to get out of that building. Forget about the tablet, I can detonate it. Get outside and get as far away as you can."

_"Fine- I'm not going to as-"_

A loud boom was heard and the line went dead on the other side, glancing at the tablet, he unmated it and heard footsteps and voices drawing closer.

"Jarvis- detonate the tablet."

_"On it sir. Shall I ready the Mark VI for flight?"_

"Get it." Tony growled, lurching to his feet, shedding his coat onto the ground as he walked, kicking off the not needed shoes and peeling off his undershirt leaving him in a Tank Top as he bolted into the small lab, jumping onto the installed platform.

He shifted as the panels slid onto his body, pressing firmly onto his legs and thighs as it wrapped its way up his torso, shifting the small metal slots that resembled scales and protected his arms as he tensed his fingers, getting used to the feeling.

_"Shall I make a guidance map to the location of the prison?"_

"Where is it?" Tony growled, eyes flicking around as he launched himself into the air, already blasting through the air at a fast speed.

_"300 miles due East, located in Berlin Vermont."_

"Patch me through to the Air Force; tell them that I'm flying through." Tony growled, pressing more power into his thrusters, causing him to blast through the skies as a quick pace, already nearly over the Bay of Fundy as he spotted Maine in front of him, growing quickly.

_"They understand, Sir."_

"Good, call up Pepper."

_"Sir?"_

"Do it." Tony growled, noticing a picture of Pepper on the left side of his vision as the little phone button used its animation.

_"Hello? Miss Pott's speaking."_

"Pepper!" Tony shouted relief in his voice.

_"…Tony? What- why are you calling me?"_

"Pepper, where are you?" Tony asked, swerving to avoid a bird.

_"I'm at the airport. I had a conference in Peru over clean energy."_

"Good- Pep's I need you to do a big favor for me." Tony stated, completely serious as he continued on, now over the U.S.A. borderline.

He heard Pepper sigh and took that as a sign to continue.

"I need you to change your flight to Nova Scotia." Tony added, a second of silence before Pepper broke it.

_"Nova Scotia? You want me to fly to Canada?"_

"Do you remember that house I made years ago? On the coast of Nova Scotia?"

_"Of course I do!"_

"I need you to stay there for a bit." Tony added, and he heard Pepper sigh once more.

_"Tony…"_

"I mean it. I'm going to send Rhodey there too soon."

_"What's wrong? Are we being targeted or something?"_

"Yes actually. Once you get inside, Jarvis will start the security field around the house. You'll be safe there."

_"…Will you be? Safe I mean?"_

Tony gave a smile, laughing slightly as he moved again, more than halfway to his destination.

"Sure, Peps. See ya' in Canada." Tony smiled, hearing Pepper snort at his crude rhyming before the smile dropped as she hung up, his eyes intent on the target of his choice.

He landed easily on the ground just outside of the prison, spotting the several cars in the secured parking lot- a few with energy burns racing up the side, destroying the details and paint.

"Rhodey!" Tony called out; voice fixed by the robotic auto tune as he started walking into the building, hands ready for blasting if anyone came close.

He made his way into the building, automatically walking to the location where he thought Rhodey would be. He started through, not looking at the dead prisoners with energy burns all over them, or the way blood occasionally spread far enough out into the hallway that the suit made a slightly wet slipping noise.

"Rhodey!" Tony shouted again, walking and turning a corner right as something smashed into his face, causing him to very back as Jarvis took a moment to fix the deactivated screen.

Tony blinked, looking at a relieved looking Rhodey with the broken remains of what looked to be a metal sink.

"Tony! God, I thought it was one of those masked men." Rhodey explained not at all looking ashamed that he had just hit Tony in the face hard enough with a porcelain and metal sink that the porcelain was cracked.

"You hit me with a sink!" Tony growled, and Rhodey gave a shrug.

"Told you, you had a thick skull." Rhodey defended and Tony sighed, holding his hand out in which Rhodey handed over the phone Tony had sent him via Ironman.

"Anyways, these things may go after you again. I'm programming this phone with the quadrants to a safe house. Don't tell anyone about it, and I've scheduled you a vacation on the way over. Don't repeat this address, and delete it once you get there." Tony ordered, and Rhodey gave a frown but nodded, grabbing the phone before turning to a light job and vanishing out of sight, presumably towards his car.

"Hammer." Tony sighed, moving and pressing on the cell door, wincing as it fell completely to the ground, caving in.

Tony scanned the ground, swallowing thickly as he noticed Hammer in the corner, back burned to shreds by the other men's repulsors, and the tablet a charred mess of wires and broken glass.

_"Sir. I am receiving signals from others within the vicinity."_

"How far away are they?" Tony asked, looking away from the corpse of his long lost foe and once friend.

_"They are moving at such acceleration they will be within the vicinity in seconds."_

Tony turned, walking towards the entrance and turning, he had not even taken three steps out of the front door before a bright spotlight from a helicopter thumping loudly overhead shone on him, causing his vision to turn white shortly.

Tony blinked as he took notice of the ranks of SHEILD operatives fitted out with guns that were…pointed at him.

"Uh hi guys. You can go, I've already checked out the scene." Tony shrugged, pointing behind him while he looked at the men, waiting for them to disperse.

"Negative, Ironman. You are to be taken in SHIELD custody!" The leader with the largest gun shouted, causing Tony to stumble back a step.

"What? Custody? What did I-  _oh_  , you think I did that?" Tony exclaimed, voice rising slightly in shock as he briefly looked at the ruins of the prison behind him.

"Correct. You can come willingly or we will capture you by force." The man shouted, and Tony took one good look at the many troops and the groups of trucks that had arrived in the few moments Tony had been standing there.

"What? I didn't do this!" Tony shouted, and the men gave no response except for pointing their guns.

"Jarvis, odds for a full fight with repulsors on stun?"

_"The percentage possibility is at 21% of escaping by fighting means."_

Tony winced at the percentage, and took against it.

"Sorry guys, but I've got to jet." Tony nodded, taking a running step before his thrusters kicked in, sending him upwards.

He briefly noticed three SHIELD jets circle in, spreading out in a way that forced Tony to have to fly between them.

"What are they do-oof!" Tony winced as he slammed into something, he twisted, tugging at his arm as it seemed to be stuck before he ripped it free, something thick, and black with exposed wires tore free.

"Jarvis! Activate Thrusters!" Tony shouted, turning to try to escape before the jet above Tony dove, apparently dropping something or doing something because suddenly the web Tony collided with seemed a lot tighter as the jet moved quickly, diving and causing him to be forced to the ground.

The jet pulled up and Tony scrambled, kicking out while his foot seemed to be caught in the annoying invisible net. The jet paused before something sparked along the wire, exposing how big the thing was in reality.

Tony instinctively arched his back and yelped loudly as electricity seeped through the armor, screen on the fritz just like when Vanko managed to zap him.

"Jarvis! Thrusters! Jarvis? Jarvis!" Tony cried out as the net seemed to detach from the jets, and he collided painfully with the ground in a mess of wire, and black rope.

Tony still was rather confused as to how he had been stopped in midflight, and his suit being taken down, but as he was shoved into a quinjet (still attached to the net, unsurprisingly) he was watched by three guards.

"We're ready for takeoff, sir." One of his guards spoke up, and through the tiny eye slits in Tony's mask, he was able to spot the captain's head, only the back of it.

"On it." The voice grumbled, added with tousled short brown hair, and a sigh Tony could recognize anywhere.

Clint? Clint was taking him hostage and onto the Helicarrier. Fury could have just asked…

"Is he conscious? Normally he'd be talking." Clint called back, and Tony felt a moment of red-hot anger.

 _'It's hard to talk when a teammate just backstabs you.'_  Tony wanted to shoot back, but chose to remain silent.

He briefly noticed a guard trying to pry off his mask, and the best he could, he went limp. They were more likely to spill information if they thought he was out cold.

Finally, they managed to pry it somewhat back, glancing in and frowning when they spotted his 'unconscious' face.

"He's out, Sir. Perhaps the electricity was too much for him?" The guard asked, and Clint shook his head with a sigh.

"No- it was made to render his suit useless. The landing must have knocked him out." Clint sighed.

_'Oh, I'm going to knock you out, Tweedie.'_


	6. Chapter 6

Tony actually did pass out at some point. The idiots at SHEILD didn't think his suit had shorted out, and sent another bout of electricity into it.

Just for that, Tony was going to make all security camera's show a video of a Nyan Cat for three days straight.

When Tony awoke, it took a strong willpower to not jump off wherever he was and punch the closest person he could find in the face. If it were Clint, it would be an added bonus.

He remained still, noticing briefly that he was in the clothes he suited up with (Short Sleeve Shirt and Slacks…It was cozy in Canada) and was missing his shoes to some degree, he inhaled trying to analyze what room he was in.

It was filled with the smell of alcohol- not the drinking kind, and had a bright light shining right on his face that added to the whole reason why he woke up.

He couldn't hear anyone, so he decided to screw the whole 'I can be a spy too!' thing and just groan and open his eyes.

And he did just that, finding out that he was sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair, and his wrists' were tied to said chair…with the same black net as before.

He frowned, tugging on it slightly before kicking out with his feet, noticing how they were not constricted in any way, and hissing in pain as his toes collided with the metal table in front of him, sending tiny jolts of throbbing pain.

He hissed slightly, rubbing his toe against his other leg as his head snapped around at the sound of metal shifting- the door opening.

Tony scowled as some SHEILD worker walked in, holding some sort of tablet (Not his creation) and dressed in an innocently blinding white.

"Hello Mr. Stark. My name is Mr. Killenger." The man nodded, setting the tablet on the table in such way Tony could not see the screen, nor reach it.

"Yeah yeah, you're my interrogator. It is insulting how they do not send anyone better. I don't like to be insulted- you hear Nickey!" Tony shouted, craning his neck to stare at the walls, which were (probably) one-way glass.

His interrogator sighed, typing something on the tablet before leaning back in his seat.

"I apologize for the inconvenience of me interrogating you when you request Director Fury instead." The man bitterly stated, and Tony gave a large cheery grin in response.

"Mr. Stark, please pay attention." The man sighed, and Tony rolled his eyes, convinced he should do everything  _except that._

"Where's my shoe? I want my shoes, those were made in Venice." Tony pouted and the man sighed, rubbing his temples.

"We find that most of our prisoners tend to not escape when without shoes."

"So I'm a prisoner now? Ouch, I feel that right in my heart, Nicky."

His interrogator huffed and crossed his arms, glaring until Tony looked at him, finally giving him lazy attention.

"What was your position for the last 52 hours?" The man tallied off, keeping a level tone of voice.

"52, huh? Wow, thought it was longer than that." Tony blinked, and leaned back in his chair, arms crossing to support his neck as he relaxed.

"What was your posi-"

"I heard you, Klien-"

"Killenger, Mr. Stark." The man bitterly corrected, Tony waving his hand off as if he didn't care.

There was a brief moment of silence while the man seemed to collect himself before speaking slowly.

"Where is the location of Mrs. Pepper Potts and Mr. James Rhodes?"

Tony let a small twitch of his lips turn into a smile as he realized that SHEILD had no information about his Nova Scotia home, nor the locations of his two closest friends.

"…How should I know? I'm tied to a table." Tony pointed out, the man frowning and clicking on the tablet while Tony watched barely.

After finding over seventeen faults in the tablet from sound, screen, and backing alone, the man spoke again.

"…What was your motive on the murder of a Mr. Justin Hammer?"

"Eh? Oh- I didn't kill him." Tony sent back, having opened his eyes from a momentarily sleepy induced fit.

"Oh for god's sake!" Tony heard a faint muffle before the door slammed open, causing the Klie- Killenger person to jump.

"Ah! Natashalie! I wondered when you'd visit." Tony piped up, all cheery with a grin on his face while mentally he was noticing all faults of her and any escape routes possible.

Natasha scowled, and Tony held a steady grin while inside he was quivering. The recent death of Hammer (He hated the man, but seeing him  _dead…)_  his capture, and the obvious idea that he was the killer was throwing his mind out of whack.

Messing with a pissed Natasha was something he could finally cross off his bucket list.

"Shut up Stark- Now," She grabbed the back of his neck, slamming his head onto the table with enough force to cause his head to throb as she flipped over, legs around his neck, nearly choking him while she leaned close to his ear, her weight pressing harder on his head into the table, giving a painful pinching feeling.

"- I think we can have a conversation. Why did you kill Hammer." She growled, and as Tony winced from the weight, she pulled up, slamming his head into the table once more.

He blinked as darkness stirred on his vision, his gut hurt from where the table ledge jammed in painfully every time, and if it wasn't for the sapphire glass covering the case of his reactor, he was sure it would have broken.

One more slam and he blearily noticed a small red puddle of blood that was spreading the more his skull smeared it around- had he hit a nail on the table? No, the supports were too far apart, a nail in this location would cause nothing but weakening on the joints…

Sometimes, Tony really wanted his brain to shut up.

He gagged once Natasha's legs decided to cut off air to his brain as an added bonus. A near thirty seconds (He'd been counting) when she released him, the lack of pressure caused him to gasp for air, ignoring how his gasps caused a small amount of the smeared blood to make his tongue frown angrily against the sudden metallic taste.

"Didn't." Tony chocked out as his head was slammed back into the table, causing his entire body to shudder.

"The blasts used to kill Hammer and the other prisoners are recognized as repulsor blasts. SHEILD has been monitoring all information about attempted Suits and Reactors. If there was a repulse created, we'd know." Natasha coldly stated again, and Tony wanted to hit her for her ignorance.

_'Yeah, and apparently if you knew just as much as you make me want to know, then this interrogation wouldn't even be needed.'_

"Bruce-energy outputs." Tony gasped out and Natasha tilted her head slightly to the side, eyes narrowed.

"Dr. Banner is currently away resolving an issue out of city. If you tell us exactly what to look for, I am sure our SHEILD scientists will be able to distinguish your proof from lies." Natasha smoothly sent back, and Tony held back the urge to roll his eyes.

"Cant- " Tony gasped, and grunted as his head collided once more.

"SHEILD idiots." Tony rushed out, the slamming hesitating as he groaned while cold air hit the smashed and highly likely bruised side of his face.

"…Thank you for your time. I assure you, we aren't done with you." Natasha assured, rising up and calmly stepping off of the table, her sharp pointed heals leaving small blood prints as she walked to the door and knocked twice, guards opening it and letting her through while Tony lied there, breathing shallowly as he waited to recover enough so passing out wasn't an option at this point.

He blinked, lifting his head and scowling as he noticed the amount of blood that had smeared. No doubt, the blood had made its way all over his face. It probably would harden to a crusty shell and make talking difficult by tomorrow.

He looked at the blood puddle, barely enough to cover the surface, but surprisingly drawing a reflection, enough of one that he could see the rough outline of his face and the darker spots where he assumed the torn skin was.

He glanced at his feet, wiggling his toes before sighing, wriggling and shifting in his seat to try to lift his foot up high enough it could rest on his lap.

He wriggled, hissing in pain as his throbbing toes jammed into the chair he sat in from a misaimed guess of distance, and finally, he was able to snag his foot on one knee.

Working with the ties that strapped his arms to the chair, he pulled his foot towards him, tugging his fingers before he removed a single white pristine sock, and his foot fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Now came the part he hated.

He eyes the sock with distaste, knowing that attempting to throw it onto the table would end in disaster, and his fingers were unavailable…

However, once Pepper force-fed him tofu just to 'try it' he was sure there was nothing worse tasting.

A few seconds later and a horrible sweaty and dirt taste in his mouth later (He almost  _preferred_  the blood) the sock was set on the corner of the table, and he had his head leaned against it, pressing with enough pressure to stop the blood flow before he grew too dizzy.

Let it be said, that Tony Stark could escape. He did so walking around in the desert wearing a giant toaster, he was sure as hell he could escape from a SHEILD base.

To make it more impressive, he would do it  _without_ his shoes. Just for Killenger.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony knew that a fair amount of time had passed.

He noticed this because the blood puddle had hardened, changed colour, cracked, and now had tiny dust particles that tasted  _horrible_  when he accidently inhaled it.

He had gotten the scrapes on his head to stop bleeding, and now his blood sock sat on the table, a rather dark colour now.

The moment the door budged a little bit, Tony snapped his head up, looking with alarm at the door as opened, and he frowned, spotting a large figure and a vastly smaller one shuffle into the room, sitting in the chair across from Tony as he blinked, staring at the two.

"…Friend Tony." Thor greeted, looking uncomfortable to be in Tony's presence, or maybe the chair was just too small for him…

Tony said nothing, keeping his eyes on Bruce, who was looking around, eying the sock before purposefully not looking at his face.

"…We were disgruntled when we learned of your attack." Thor tried again, and Tony said nothing, not rising to the bait Thor was (Horribly) setting out.

"He means that we can't believe you did that." Bruce sighed, leaning one hand on the table where he tapped out something, probably in anxiety.

Tony still said nothing- if Fury wanted him to act all relieved, it was not going to happen.

"We knew you didn't like Hammer but killing him is a little bi-"

"I didn't kill him." Tony shot out, halting Bruce through midsentence, and Tony gave a slight glare at Bruce, eyes on eyes.

It hurt a little, his best science buddy not recognizing when he was telling the truth or lying. He expected a breakout- maybe a little green giant action, but being  _questioned?_  What was he supposed to do? Plead innocent for something he never did?

Bruce held Tony's eyes, before flicking down towards his finger, which still tapped, and back up, as if urging Tony to have some strange fascination in the wonders of chewed on nails.

_Tap tap tap- ta tap ta- tap tap-_

What? Was he supposed to somehow decode a funky Pink Floyd drumbeat or something?

Oh- decode… _oh._

Tony could have hit himself for how stupid he felt.

"What about you. Why are you here?" Tony growled, looking at Thor in mock anger, trying to stall time while he decoded the message Bruce was using Morse Code for.

_T. .-I-K.N.O-_

"You attacked one with no defense. I wished to see why a Shield Brother turned to the path of cowardice." Thor responded, making Tony want to scoff at him.

Natasha and Clint shot down people with no defense for a living; did that make  _them_ a coward?

_W-Y.O.U.-D.I.D.N.T.-D.O.-I.T._

Well, that was a relief.

_F.U.R.Y.-W.O.N.T-L.E.T.-O.U.T._

Never mind.

"I told you, I didn't kill him." Tony sighed, rubbing his temples.

_K.E.E.P.I.N.G.-S.U.I.T.-I.N.-H.U.L.K-R.O.O.M_

Hulk's room? Why would they put it  _there?_

_N.E.V.E.R.-L.O.O.K.-T.H.E.R.E._

True, true.

"I wish to not see another close to I prefer the path of shadows. Come Man of Banner. He wishes none of us." Thor sighed, rising from his feet.

"Yeah- bye Tony." Bruce sighed, tapping increasing as he rose to his feet.

_E.S.C.A.P.E.-L.A.T.E.R.-S.O.O.N-C.A.R.E.F.U.L._

Bruce turned, walking out, leaving Tony with a mismatched sentence.

Tony blinked, groaning and letting his head fall back, looking up at the plain white ceiling that had lights that were persistently trying to burn his retinas.

Okay, escape, later, soon, careful. What did that mean? Did that mean that he would be able to escape later? Did the soon mean that it would be soon, or that he'd have to be careful soon?

He blinked as the lights above dimmed slightly, flickering before they turned black, electricity falling and leaving his windowless room in pitch-blackness.

This is what he meant…

Tony turned, twisting his wrists against the black net, hoping to any god he knew (And Loki just for kicks) that the power outage had short-circuited the electric wires that practically made this thing.

He pulled, wriggling and wincing as the wires gave, broken and weakened from the electric pulse and jumped to his feet, standing mostly on his left foot because the floor was  _cold_  on his one foot.

"I should just walk around with one sock….no I look stupid." Tony used before yanking off his other sock and throwing it behind him as he made his way towards the door, Arc Reactor illuminating it.

He heard footsteps and lunged to the side of the door, managing to hide just behind it as a man burst through, carrying a gun on his hip and a taser in his hand.

 _'What is it with electricity and these people?'_  Tony thought with a scowl, grabbing the door and slamming it harm into the man who crumpled as if Thor had just patted his head.

He practically jumped on the man, pulling on his coat and grabbing his visor as well as swapping pants, but leaving his shoes. He slipped the gun onto his hip (He wasn't going to kill anybody…as long as a few windows didn't count) and the taser on his arm holster as he hid himself from view. Looking like a normal SHIELD agent and not at all of Iron Man.

After all, he only had to get to the Hulk room…

He walked out; using a cheap SHIELD issued flashlight as well as a few others to scan the hallways, mentally laughing at the idiots who left his room unguarded with an electric lock.

He walked, looking as if he was making rounds as a few nerdy looking scientists bustled by, holding flashlights while they tried to get inside a room.

Tony's eyes lit up when he spotted Mr. Killenger amongst the group, cursing and glaring at the door nearest the back.

"Sir, I need to ask you a few questions." Tony stated, standing behind the man who jumped and turned with a sigh, crossing his arms.

"Protocol? Again?" he groaned and Tony hid a snicker, walking away from the group where only his flashlight and the sound of his and Mr. Killenger's footsteps made the hallway loud.

"Now then- tell Nicky the next time I'm kidnapped and interrogated, send in a professional." Tony smirked, flipping the visor up so Killenger's eyes could widen at the blood caked on his face before Tony knocked him out with the butt of the tazer.

Done and done.

He snuck along, moving away from any shouting of any sort, although just when he could see the door, he heard conversation being heard from the small clearing just across from the door.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone knocked out our power. They're probably on the craft trying to find something…or get someone."

"They're after Stark?"

"Doesn't matter. You take the south corridor, Thor, take the East. Bruce takes the West, Clint go to the hanger, and I'll take the North."

Of all people, he gets freaking Natasha to have to patrol the corridor he's walking down.

He sees her, and she is walking with a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, she looks at him with narrowed eyes, but says no further thing as she walks by. Tony almost exhales when he hears her turn and stop walking; he turns reflexively, seeing her staring at him with some suspicion in her eyes.

"…Where are your shoes?" She asks, and Tony mentally curses.

He should have taken Killenger's.

She's fast, spinning and kicking him in such way the cuts on his head open again and his visor clatters against the floor, and she turns, almost about to jump him as he yanks up on his holster, pulling out the taser and blindly firing it.

He hears a muffled yelp and a loud thud as she hits the ground, he pries one eye open, wanting to laugh as he sees her on the ground with an expression of shock and surprise with the taser lines connecting to her gut and expanding down her left thigh.

Eh, lucky shot.

"Stark." She grunted out, twitching with the electricity as her back arched, and Tony turned, hurrying into the Hulk room and spotting his suit inside a case with an electric code needed to open it.

Fingers ready for hacking, he rushed over, about to press a button before pausing and lifting the case. Hah, no electricity, no lock.

"Jarvis?" Tony asked once he slipped the helmet on over his head, finding the bracelets needed on the secret compartments near the glove's wrists, and slipping them on.

He blinked, seeing the red diagrams light up before power was restored, allowing Tony to see the room as if it were day.

_"Sir. A pleasure to see you well again."_

"Yeah well, we aren't in the clear yet. Jarvis- lock onto the cufflinks, can you deploy the suit?"

Instead of answering, the suit instead took its job to attach, linking joints together and looking perfect, minus the few thin lines where the electricity heat had burned the paint off.

"Okay Jarvis- can you lock onto Bruce?"

_"With the current lack of electricity upon the Helicarrier, any action you make, Sir, will be noticed at once."_

"So what am I supposed to do?" Tony scoffed, and looked at the case in which the suit was in before-

"Wait…" Tony mumbled, approaching the case and tapping on the top, tracing the angle towards a wall where he knew Bruce would see, and walked over, gently carving dots and lines into the plaster- Morse Code for '45' and '64'

_"Sir?"_

"Quadrants. Alert me if Bruce goes anywhere in Nova Scotia, he's allowed inside, I think we can trust him." Tony responded, taking one good look around before winding his arm back for a punch, and dug up the catwalk around the glass cage, finding the shoot out to the open sky after a few seconds of digging.

"Jarvis?" Tony asked, about to lunge into the sky.

_"Your location is currently over New York City. The suit has not gone under any damage that will prevent your return. Miss Potts and Mr. Rhodes are located at your home, and well."_

"Perfect. Do me a favor and shut down all link to the Avenger's Mansion. Cut off electricity, transfer your databanks to some place else- shift them to Vancouver and feed me the information. Let's see how long SHIELD can work without my or your help."

_"Yes Sir. Thrusters deployed."_

And in a loud laugh, Tony jumped.


	8. Chapter 8

"Tony!" Pepper cried, running out from the front porch as he landed on the black tarmac driveway.

"SHEILD's blaming me for the prison- don't trust anybody." Tony responded, walking inside and right past Pepper, who was stunned enough to not exactly care at the moment.

He walked inside- manually pressing the latch to release the suit, as he hadn't built a system yet.

Rhodey appeared at the noise of dropping metal, and looked at Tony with something akin to worry as he scanned him up and down, offering a hand once he knew Tony was fine.

"Tough time?" Rhodey asked, and Tony looked at him with an expression of affectionate annoyance.

"You have  _no idea."_

x-(X)-x

Tony frowned, sitting in his small lab and stretched his legs.

He was currently sprawled out on a large couch next to his little cubby corner of holographic desks, each fitted with separate areas of research or the occasional global wide overnight search.

Currently, he was looking at the footage from the prison of the men walking in with the bulky repulsor-like weapons, firing on everything and yet in strategic areas. Whoever planned it out, had enough information about Tony that is was beginning to unnerve him.

"Still looking over the footage?"

Tony looked up; meeting Pepper, who stood in the open doorway to the small lab, walking in as there was not any glass blocking him out from the rest of the world.

"I'm looking for something that will slip them up- military training, assassin work-  _anything."_  Tony responded with a frown, mapping he movement of each footstep one of the men made, and Pepper sighed loudly on his right. He felt the couch dip as she sat next to him, offering him one of the mugs from the trey she had walked in.

"Coffee?" He asked, and took a large gulp- sweet.

"Caramel Frappe." Pepper supplied, having to make it herself from the lack of outside communication.

"Hmmm…"

It stalled into a comfortable silence as the two sipped on their Caramel Frappe's, looking around the small and cute lab casually.

"…It's odd to see you down here without all of your 'helpers'" Pepper smiled, and Tony snorted quietly with a small smirk.

"It's not that I miss Dummy, spraying me with fire extinguisher, or You having some addiction with knocking over my coffee cups."

"Butterfingers still dropping wrenches?" Pepper asked lightly, and Tony just groaned, Pepper issuing a little giggle at his response.

It was nice, he would admit. He hadn't had time to just…sit there and relax, with  _anybody_ , since after he had just finished making the Iron Man suit and hadn't used it yet. Since then, he was too busy hunting down his weapons, managing a company, repairing his suit, curing poisoning, fighting Loki and fighting a (debatably) worse Fury.

He didn't know how long they sat there for, maybe a few hours until Pepper actually was able to drag him away from his work, momentarily stopping and bidding Rhodey a goodnight (He was stargazing- a hobby he picked up from his missions) and follow Pepper up to the master suit.

Then…they slept, that's it. Only sleeping.

It was… _nice._

The next morning, however, it was time to get busy.

Rhodey and Tony were in a sports car, one of the few stocked, and was racing around the desolate high cliff roads of Nova Scotia, pulling tight turns and not once becoming dangerously close to the edge.

"Why are we out here, Tony?" Rhodey asked after a few short (Yet fast) minutes of silence, Tony's knuckles white as he was clenching the steering wheel so tight.

"I need to know if there is  _anything_  that I overlooked on S.C.O.R.P." Tony responded, voice clipped as he made another tight turn, Rhodey hanging onto the handle attached to the car.

"Tony, why are you asking me? I'm not in on these secret organizations." He sighed, and Tony exhaled through his nose loudly, turning again to show a breathless sight through his windshield before a cliff hid it from sight.

"No- but you may know if they'd have any records on paper." Tony pointed out, and Rhodey frowned, looking out over the water.

"I'm not sure, Tony. It seems this whole organization isn't found in the U.S."

"Think I should try Canada?" Tony asked slightly amused.

"No- I'm thinking even further." Rhodey responded, looking at Tony and noticing his eyebrows lift in surprise.

"Further? You think Europe or something?"

"I don't know Tony." Rhodey sighed, and Tony pursed his lips, cranking the wheel in a fishtail before pulling to a stop right at the edge of the road, looking out over the water where a whale breached in the distance.

"I'm thinking about trying the black market. Maybe a few people can get information I can't find by hacking." Tony admitted after a few quiet seconds, and Rhodey looked at him in alarm.

"Tony you can't do that! The government gets one whiff of that Iron Man suit and you're toast!" Rhodey protested, and Tony turned, frowning and having a look on his face, that Rhodey automatically knew related to a stupid idea.

"I wasn't…planning on using the suit…" He stated, hesitantly looking up at Rhodey after.

Rhodey stared, then crossed his arms and lifted one eyebrow and giving a look that obviously stated  _'Are-you-kidding-me?'_

"Tony, the moment you walk into a black market unprotected you're going to get jumped by robbers, assassins, idiots that want your  _hair,_  mutants- hell if I know!" Rhodey threw his hands in the air and Tony couldn't help but add his own snide comment.

"And rapists, don't forget them…"

"…Do you naturally have that little self preservation, or do you have to work at it?"

Tony's lips twitched in a smile as he looked out over the water, noticing the view as Rhodey lent back, one hand over his eyes as he rubbed his temples.

"I'm thinking of contacting the X-men, actually." Tony mentioned, causing Rhodey to spin in his chair and give him an astonished look.

"Tony- that's a worse idea then the black market!"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with them." Tony defended and Rhodey frowned.

"Yeah, sure Tony. Go make a deal with mutant humanoids with the power to make you burst into flames."

Tony gave a snort, and a small smile was on his lips as he leaned back.

"You'd be surprised. They aren't that bad; besides, they owe me a few favors." Tony shrugged and Rhodey stared.

"You have deals with the X-men." Rhodey deadpanned and Tony smirked, leaning back in his seat.

"Yup, I  _maybe_  built them a jet…and secret passages through their entire house….and a bunker…."

Rhodey stared before slamming his head back and closing his eyes, groaning up towards the ceiling of the car saying "Dear God, kill me now."

Tony laughed, flooring and speeding around on the roads, doing a U-turn and speeding back to the small manor where he knew Pepper would be waiting for them, maybe if he was extra lucky, she'd even have another one of those Caramel Frappe's…

He  _liked_  Caramel Frappe's.

x-(X)-x

Tony sat on his couch in the lab, holographic images from satellite feeds locking onto a single building and calling without using an actual phone number.

Oh, how he loved technology.

 _"…Hello?"_ He smirked at the woman speaking and leant back further, convinced that he had the right house.

"Hi there! By any chance, is this the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning?" Tony spoke cheerfully, the girl on the other end slightly more hesitant before responding.

_"Who is this?"_

Tony gave a small pout, crossing his arms in annoyance as the girl refused to name herself.

"Tony Stark- famous Billionaire and Iron Man at your service." Tony grinned, and he heard the pause at the other end before the girl answered back.

_"And with the government last time I checked. The name's Storm."_

"Nice to meet ya' Storm. And I actually need to speak with Charles if you don't mi-"

_"We aren't helping the government."_

"…I'm not asking you to." Tony responded, cheerful voice dropping a few tones and the girl instantly was on her way, taking the phone with her.

He hummed on the couch, hearing faint static noises and broken words over the phone from the gir-  _Storm_ , walking past other mutants probably. Speaking of mutants, it had been a while since he was last there…

_"Hello?"_

"Charles! How are you my favorite bald mind reader?" Tony smirked, and on the other side, he heard a chuckle.

_"Hello, Anthony. It has been a while, hasn't it?"_

"It has.  _Anyways…_ I need a small favor from you guys actually…" Tony winced as soon as he said it, and the line on the other side was quiet.

_"From me, personally, or from my students, Anthony?"_

"It depends on who knows what I'm looking for." Tony shot back, carefree attitude fading, and now the two were speaking in only firm tones.

_"And, what exactly, are you looking for?"_

"Information." Tony stated, and there was another silence, Tony took this as his time to explain himself.

"A few weeks ago we- The Avengers- fought a metal…thing. Anyways, there's an organization that made the thing, and I'm trying to find them, and stop them." Tony responded, and waited as Charles let out a sigh.

_"Finding a secret organization that made one monster? This isn't your style, Anthony."_

"They have weapons that are identical to my repulsors and used them to frame me into murdering innocents." Tony responded, and Charles was silent.

_"I see…and this organization is called?"_

"Scorp. S.C.O.R.P. I've only found them on metal used by past enemies, starting back from just after I made the suit originally."

_"Well, they've been watching you, haven't they?"_

"You have no idea." Tony growled out, and it had a steady silence Tony was used to as Charles took time to think.

_"I've never heard of S.C.O.R.P. I'm sure you wish for a more in-depth search?"_

"I was going to ask around the black market- but for obvious reasons I can't." Tony bitterly stated, and another silence.

_"Of course. I'll see what I can do. And if I am able to find anyone with information about this association?"_

"Send them to me. I'll send you my location, but I'm keeping protocols in case someone breaks in. If  _anyone_  finds out where I am SHIELDS going to be killing me." Tony dryly stated and he heard a chuckle from Charles.

_"Of course. I'll keep your location hidden, I'll probably send out some of my informers to tell you what we have found. I believe you met Storm?"_

"Yeah- nice girl by the way."

_"She is. She will most likely inform you in person as well as Jean, perhaps Scott or Logan if he returns by then."_

"Anybody I'd recognize?" Tony stated with a small smirk, and he heard the corresponding chuckle from Charles.

_"Probably not. I must thank you for your help in the past, I hope we'll be able to return the favor."_

"Thanks Charles." Tony sighed into the phone, pulling it away once he heard the click that signaled a hung up connection.

"Tony?" He turned, looking at Rhodey who appeared in the doorway with a frown on his face.

"Jarvis just reported something about a guy showing up at a Nova Scotia airport." Rhodey frowned, and Tony turned, ears perking up as he listened.

"Did you catch a name?"

"Yeah? Someone called 'Bruce Banner'"


	9. Chapter 9

Bruce Banner, was not good with small confined spaces, nor things that flew in the air. Any that involved both usually involved a panic attack and him waking up in some corn field lacking necessary garments to be seen in the public with.

After getting to the Stark Tower ahead of the rest of the seething and confused Avengers (Natasha the one seething), He had immediately moved to a computer, asking Jarvis to open a folder that had the energy samples of the odd weapons Tony had insisted the people that had framed him used.

He waited, noticing with a frown as the lights were off, not even a slight hum of electricity as Jarvis seemed completely void of life, causing Bruce to wonder around, feeling for a switch and flicking it on as he moved his way into the lab- the door unlocked.

Moving to a single monitor, his breath hitched as it displayed a single address, one that he recognized as Tony's private jet house, ready for a moments flight anywhere.

In addition, apparently, the jet was already informed of his arrival.

Thankfully, Bruce didn't have many attachments to belongings, and was quickly on his way out the door, calling a taxi over as he shifted his single bag to a more comfortable position as he tossed it into the cab beside him.

The ride was uneventful, the driver did not ask why he was at some random jet hanger on the outskirts of the city, and just to add to it, didn't recognize him, letting him have a few minutes of peace that wasn't filled with a gushing fangirl (Or guy, in this case)

One he was on the steps up to the jet, there was a flight attendant in a short skirt with a quick yet tidy bun looking him over with pursed lips, painting a startling scarlet that matched her shirt.

"We have been waiting for you, Mr. Banner, am I correct?" She asked, looking him up and down, and he shifted, not liking the intimidating stare she was giving him.

"Er- that's me. Doctor Bruce Banner." He offered a hand, but she made no move to meet it, sniffing slightly at the single slightly beaten duffle bag he brought with him.

"Pleasure." She stated before turning and marching inside the jet, heels clicking in succession as she walked into the pilot's corner, sitting at the main seat and clicking the safety buckles.

It took Bruce a few seconds to realize that she was the pilot, and he hurried inside, awkwardly throwing his bag in another of the lush comfortable chairs and sitting down, staring out the window as the door automatically clicked shut. The woman prepared a few pre-flight tests, moving the small flaps up and down before moving the jet slowly.

Bruce's hands dug into the leather seats, nubby nails pressing deeply as he felt the plane lift and the following nausea and the sick feeling of his organs shifting inside him.

"This is your pilot speaking. We are now at a safe flight altitude. You are now free to roam about the cabin. Beverages and Snacks are within the snack area, and Mr. Stark provides televisions for your convenience. If you wish for any contact please press and hold the red button on the left hand side of the cabin to create an audio feed to my deck, thank you."

Bruce blinked hearing the woman speak in her clipped tone as he eyed the button, gingerly pressing it and speaking once the small red light lit up.

"Er- hi. Where exactly are you taking me?"

"Mr. Stark has given me direct orders to transport you. No information regarding your landing area is provided until we are over the Atlantic Ocean. Thank you."

Atlantic Ocean- was he in Europe?

Bruce's throat seemed to clog as he swallowed quickly in some attempt to remove it, sitting heavily on a chair and holding his head in his hands, tugging harshly at the brown curls.

A few hours on a plane, he could do this.

x-(X)-x

Bruce had never been so happy to be out of a jet.

It was a nice jet- very nice actually, he just didn't like flying, and he was sure that there were imprints from his nails on the leather armrests from both the take off and the landing.

He winced, stretching out his shoulders as he grabbed his bag, throwing it over his back as he cautiously made his way down the thin aluminum stairway that led to the door. The pilot observed with a frown as Bruce touched ground, shoes sinking into the gravel on the side of the runway as he took a few seconds to observe his surroundings.

They were on some sort of edge of a mountain side, the landing strip tucking nicely next to it as the trees picked up on the far side, making their way up the mountain while trees on the other sloped downwards steadily, making their way to a cerulean blue ocean in the distance and far below, touching craggy peaks.

"Where am I?" Bruce asked, looking out and at the pilot, who crossed her arms, looking bored.

"Maine? Vermont?" Bruce tallied off with a frown, and before the woman could respond, a different voice cut through.

"Try Canada."

Bruce spun, a smile on his face as he spotted Tony, at ease against a trust convertible car, a T-shirt stained with oil and yet pulling off the look with designer sunglasses that weren't actually needed.

"Nova Scotia to be exact- they have fantastic lobster. Jarvis noted that the airport was picking up Kathy's signal- thanks Kathy." Tony smirked to the pilot, who craned her head in a nod, moving to dismantle the stairs and fly away again.

"Anyways- I have loads to tell you. Hop in- I'll explain some on the ride." Tony offered, using one arm to flip over the side and into the driver's seat with a fluid motion only experience could create.

Bruce shuffled over, dropping his bag in the tiny trunk before easing into the convertible, buckling and tightening the strap a little more than usual, ignoring Tony's lifted eyebrow as he waited for said man to start to drive.

Bruce fisted his hands in the belt as his eyes watered from the sudden speed, his breath caught while tony continued rambling away, as if they were simply walking along on a sidewalk.

"Pepper and Rhodey are here, Rhodey nearly got hit by SCORP and I don't want to risk Pepper, besides Pep can manage SI from here, and since those SHEILD idiots don't know how to track half as well as they should, you're safe here." Tony flippantly called, taking a sharp left turn and down through one of the many tunnels that dotted the cliff faces.

"Here?" Bruce questioned weakly, still confused at what just happened in the few hours since Tony had gotten away from SHEILD.

"Nova Scotia- Casa de la Stark. Small little thing- you'll have the fourth room, has an attached bath and all the things you need. Rhodey goes out to get things for us- Pepper's too noticeable and I'm not sure if the Avengers are well known in Canada, but I know that a billionaire isn't something you'd ignore." Tony rambled, Bruce blinking and giving a slow bewildered nod.

They took another sharp turn on a road that Bruce didn't even see at first, pulling up to a cliff edge where a house sat, a glass wall keeping the edge a good four feet away as Tony pulled into the small (for him) garage, parking next to another convertible (some sort of Camaro) and an out of place Honda.

"For Rhodey." Tony explained when he noticed Bruce's pointed look, and he slid to a stop, garage door sliding closed behind while bright white lights lit up, Bruce grabbing his bag and hurrying after tony who was already at the door.

"Basic rules- we can't have anyone out here cleaning up for us, so don't make a huge mess- not like you do…neat freak." Tony mock scowled as he walked past, tossing his keys on a glass shelf just on the left of the door, letting Bruce look around, eyeing the small living room with the glass wall looking out over the ocean.

"It's beautiful." He breathed, causing Tony to mock scowl.

"And my tower isn't? Nah- I know what you mean…" Tony smiled, and Bruce blushed slightly, hesitantly sitting down next to Tony who practically flung himself onto one of the couches.

"Tony, have you gone an- Oh…hello Bruce." Pepper awkwardly stated, walking in and holding a pile of recently printed papers, a pen sitting just behind her ear while she watched, hesitantly walking closer.

"I need you to sign these- it's about the charity event in Bo-"

"Don't care." Tony shrugged, taking the offered pen and quickly scribbling his name while Pepper retreated, Bruce giving her a small smile as she vanished around the corner of the building.

"Anyways- thanks for helping me out back on the Helicarrier, I'm positive Fury's little minions won't even think to use Morse Code- how did you get those lights anyways?" Tony asked, the sudden rambling directing Bruce's attention to the man himself.

"Oh- er…I found the breaker room."

"…You turned off the light switch." Tony deadpanned in shock and yet awe, Bruce blushed, giving a slight nod before Tony fell back against the couch, cackling madly.

"Those idiots didn't even check the light switch! Ha! 'The best the world has to offer' my ass!" Tony cackled, causing Bruce to join in on a little bit of the laughter.

"Sir, if I may interrupt. Sirs Odinson, Rodgers, Barton and Miss Romanoff are attempting access into the tower."

"Huh? Oh, visual please- thanks Jar." Tony nonchalantly stated, putting his arms behind his head as the TV across lit up with a security feed, oddly in colour and with audio for a dumb old device.

"This is what Jarvis sees- you can't see those ones." Tony explained as they watched the group march in, Natasha limping ever so slightly as she looked around with a frown.

"Jarvis, can you get the lights?"

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

"You didn't." Bruce exhaled, the slightest twitch of a smile on his face from the confused and annoyed looks on the others.

"Jarvis? Hello? Anybody ho- Damn Stark! He probably deactivated his entire tower!" Clint cursed, walking forward and pressing on a door that was electrically locked, and Tony watched him strain, trying to push it open while his efforts did nothing.

"Shut down every single command- can't wait for Thor to figure out the toaster won't work." Tony stated smugly, Bruce watching in awe as the others struggled to do the smallest tasks they had all taken for granted.

"Damn It Stark! I'm going to hogtie you and leave you in Fury's office!" Clint cursed, moving around before dropping onto the couch with a scowl.

"The suits are gone as well as all of his robots and blueprints from his lab. This place is literally a wasteland. Jarvis is out as well as the power. This place has nothing for us." Natasha stated, appearing in the stairway to the lab, and Steve frowned, looking around.

"So what? Do we go and rent an apartment?"

"Without Stark's money? We won't be able to pay for it."

It was quiet as they waited, thinking over something, somehow a way to solve the problem.

"Oh no….We're going to have to bunk with Fury…"

"…Friends! The Poptarts are missing!"

"…Aw crap."


	10. Chapter 10

It was maybe a week after Bruce's original visit, and the four of them hadn't left the area since.

Pepper was using Jarvis to update reports and send them from a Russian satellite to a British one before to a number of computers before to the U.S.'s then finally to where the reports were supposed to be, it effectively left the idiots at SHIELD baffled and scrambling to have any slight idea.

Tony hacked into their server nearly every other day, and Jarvis monitored it in case something major happened in the odd day they weren't watching the security feeds.

Bruce was enjoying Nova Scotia- he was rather fond of just looking out over the cliff edge, and no matter how many times Tony offered to take him cliff jumping, he seemed to have something against suddenly skinny dipping. (Although Tony stressed that, there was  _nobody here_ , in this barren rocky chunk of Canada)

Rhodey was enjoying his quiet break off, and was more often than not, off on his own driving around the cliffs at a painstakingly slow speed of the speed limit.

"Anyways, the gold infused with the titanium-" Tony started, explaining exactly why he liked using the alloy he did in the suit to Bruce before Jarvis cut him off, speaking from the TV speakers, as he hadn't installed any in-between the walls…yet.

_"Sir? You have an incoming call."_

"From who?" Tony spoke, voice immediately changing from the playful tone before to something clipped and icy, causing Bruce to look at him in alarm from the sudden change.

_"The call is incoming from a mobile cell phone, located in…Northern New York."_

"Lock on and narrow the target, Jarvis." Tony ordered, watching the screen that slowly narrowed down the search.

_"…On the corner of Graymalkin lane and Worcister Street, sir."_

"Hack into the phone- disconnect the call if you have to, look through contact information, tell me if there's anyone on it that we know." Tony ordered, and Bruce frowned.

"Tony-that's an invasion of privacy. You can't just do tha-"

_"Sir, contacts in the phone relate to those of known mutants as well as a few exceptions. Codenames are included as well as profile pictures."_

"Any idea on whose phone it is right now?" Tony asked, completely ignoring Bruce and focusing on the screen as pictures of mutants flicked past.

_"Owner of the phone is known as Jean Grey, mutant and teacher at Charles Xavier's School."_

"Okay- feed her through." Tony nodded and the screen blinked, a dial tone feeding through before it was immediately picked up.

_"Hello? I'm trying to reach someone."_

" And I think you did. The name's Tony Stark." Tony offered, speaking aloud while the girl on the other side inhaled sharply, obviously not the Jean who owned the phone.

_"Tony Stark? Wow- er, sorry Mr. Stark. Anyways, the Professor told Jean to tell you, but she was busy so she let me tell you."_

"Tell me what?" Tony asked, leaning forward on his seat while the girl on the other end obviously noticed how

_"The Professor used Cerebro and found someone who knew about that thing you were looking for, S.C.O.R.P. But that's the odd thing-"_

"There was only one person." Tony muttered, and the girl on the other end was quiet as he thought.

"What else? I'm sure you'd tell me more if you were to call me." Tony added, and the girl exhaled.

_"Yeah- a…a friend of mine. He's off to confront that guy; he's a mutant, Mr. Stark. He's making it so the Professor can't get a read on him, so he sent in my friend to meet with him."_

"Meet with him?" Tony quoted and he had the mental image that the girl had winced.

_"Yeah- it's a black market- some pub that has cage fighting."_

"Cage fighting?" Bruce piped up, sitting forward suddenly; he never did like cage fighting.

The girl laughed, and when she responded, it was with a smile in her voice.

_"Oh, don't worry about him. He's a pro at fighting- how do you think I met him?"_

_x-(X)-X_

In a pub out on the sides of eastern Alberta, a tiny shack of a pub sat.

A single man got off a chopper- a rather nice one at that, and walked towards the building, sniffing once and grimacing at the thick smell of body odor and cheap bear, the thick haze of cigarette smoke making the bar seem hazy in the light.

He moved throughout, around the scantily clad woman who pouted at his rejection, and moved across the room, sniffing and eyes peeled for a certain person he had been sent on this wild goose chase for.

"This better be good." He grumbled, waving down the barman who slid down a large mug with the cheap beer, the mug mostly foam, but still managed to slosh over the top onto the horrid smelling counter top.

He heard a bell ring behind him, and turned to shortly watch the fight, lazily, he could point out three problems before one landed a punch, and it was rather pathetic in his mind actually.

"You." He pointed to a rather scrawny looking kid who was obviously trying to snatch money out of people's pockets. At once, the kid attempted to look innocent, but the man just sighed, grabbing his shirt and pushing him to the counter, the boy not even giving a yelp despite how large his eyes got on his rat body.

"Lookin' for a guy. Calls himself Weasel." The man grunted, and the rat kid gulped loudly, lifting one shaking hand and pointing towards the back booths, where the man could faintly pick out two forms, one of the scantily clad girls and a rather grimy looking person amazingly enough bearing resemblance to a weasel.

"Thanks bub- get out of here before the cops show." The man grunted, shoving the kid towards the door who squeaked and scurried away, rushing right out of the doors.

The man moved, taking the beer with him as he pulled up a chair, dropping the beer onto the table across from the two, and sat down, staring at the two for a moment before taking a long drink from the mug, and setting it down with the clang, perfectly at ease with the loud shouts and occasional blood on the ground atmosphere.

"Yes?" The man asked, scowling and pinching his lips together in a very impressive weasel impression, and the man took another sip, leaning back and staring.

"You Weasel?" He grunted out, the other man blinking slyly and giving a slow nod in which the lady scowled, crossing her arms on her dirty white fox fur scarf.

"Good- listen here bub, you're gonna tell me what I want, right now." The man stated, taking another gulp of the cheep liquid, and the man lifted an eyebrow, not impressed.

"Oh?"

The man reached across, grabbing the weasel and slamming him onto the table, beer spilling onto the splinter covered plywood cover while the girl screamed in alarm as weasel was suddenly pinned to the table by a much taller, buff, man.

Not to mention the two long silver knifes that seemed to press into the sides of his neck, the middle blade inches away from his gasping throat.

"Now then-" The man stated at ease, pulling out a cigar and lighting it by slashing one of his other blades into another- doing it with such ease it screamed 'experience!'

Weasel looked around, eyes scanning all over and he mentally cursed himself over the fact that he choose the most hidden corner, and his telepathic 'partner' had run off…with his wallet.

"We gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?"


	11. Chapter 11

It was a few days after the original Cell Phone call from the mysterious stranger. (Jarvis had hacked into a few security feeds, matching the audio to that of a young girl, taped while visiting a local museum for some school trip. Apparently, she went by the name 'Rogue' although Tony was positive that was not her real name.)

Tony and Bruce had been busy for the first day, the later avoiding the former as he had been upset with the lack of rights Tony had represented while phoning the younger girl. Bruce had told Tony when he asked what he was doing in the makeshift lab, that he was looking up the mutant gene to see if it could have a possible cure for his 'issue.'

In all reality, he was looking up the medical diagnosis for Narcissism, trying to see if there were any temporary cures.

Bruce flipped through the thick book he had, fingers flying as his eyes scanned any page for a word that could add to the sudden coldness to Tony's attitude- sure Bruce noticed that the Narcissistic tendencies were developing slowly, but turning harsh cold in only a single night? That was…wrong.

_"-different from manic-depressive cyc-"_

Bruce froze, moving back the four pages he flipped and narrowed his eyes, nearly brushing his nose against the small font as he skimmed, searching for the promising looking sentence.

_"Narcissists go through euphoric and dysphoric cycles. They ar-"_

"Jarvis, scan the definition of dysphoric." Bruce stated calmly, looking up as a nearby monitor flashed to life, the definition in helpful large font.

_"Dysphoric: Dysphoria; depression; a state of feeling acutely hopeless, uncomfortable, and unhappy."_

Bruce swallowed back the horribly sick feeling in his throat and continued to read, determined to find a cure.

_"They are dilated, all encompassing, all consuming, and all-pervasive. They are different from manic-depressive cycles (As found in the Bipolar Disorder pg 607) in which they are reactive, highly dependent on external events or circumstances."_

"No- no no no." Bruce whispered, pulling out a dictionary and quickly skimming the rest of the passage and picking out a few key words, quickly searching it in the medical terms.

_"Anhedonia; a mental disorder, the inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences."_

_"Mania; abnormal elevated or irritable mood or energy levels."_

At the few words Bruce started to desperately read the passage, mouth growing dry as he looked at the irritable mood swings that Tony was already on.

_"These mini-cycles, though outwardly manic-depressive-are not. They are the result of subtle fluctuations in the volatile flow of Narcissist Supply._

_"These mini-cycles, though outwardly manic-depressive (or cyclothymiacs) - are not. They are the result of subtle fluctuations in the volatile flow of Narcissistic Supply."_

_"Narcisstic Supply: the balance of admiration, adoration, approval, attention, and so on throughout activities, thoughts, conversations, inspiration, and daydreams."_

_"All aspects of life are regulated throughout such supply, rendering it relatively stable and predictable."_

"No." Bruce croaked, more and more, the information looking bleak.

 _"Is there something wrong, Doctor Banner?"_ Bruce jumped at Jarvis' tone, inquiring as he was obviously stressed.

Bruce sighed, lifting his arms to rub his eyes when he noticed that they were shaking.

"Yeah- can you tell me the last time Tony slept?" He asked, best to start by knowing which cycle Tony was on, anyways.

Jarvis gave a pause before answering,  _"Mr. Stark is currently inside his lab. He has been awake for 32 hours straight."_

Bruce paused, waiting and thinking his next answer, "Do you think he's hungry? I could make him some food." Bruce offered, and Jarvis didn't wait nearly as long, this time.

_"I do not think this wise, Dr. Banner. Mr. Stark is currently in a foul mood, unable to invent anything at the moment."_

And Bruce felt that chill, that horrible feeling he got when he knew something the others didn't- Tony was on the negative side of the cycle.

Great.

"Okay- that's fine…Um; do you know where Pepper and Rhodey are?" Bruce asked, shifting in his seat awkwardly, while Jarvis scanned the house quickly.

_"Miss. Potts and Mr. Rhodes are currently inside the lounge."_

"Thanks Jarvis." Bruce smiled, making his way out and around the corner from the small area, he was reading in.

Indeed the two were inside the lounge, Pepper was going over paperwork while Rhodey was reading a book, and all the while, the TV was on mute- the bright flashing colours stunning Bruce for a small second.

"Oh- hello Bruce." Pepper smiled, looking up with a smile as Bruce shuffled in, awkwardly perching on one of the couches seats, looking at the two.

"So- er, anything new?" He asked, looking to the TV and inwardly wincing at how idiotic his conversation attempt sounded.

"Nothing unusual- a new superhero showed up in New York, shoots webs like a spider or something- he's managed only the small attacks, mostly thugs and robberies." Rhodey shrugged and Bruce looked up to see said red and blue adorned human swing across buildings using _webs_  with an incredibly tacky spider print on the middle of his chest.

Hero's these days…

"Yeah _,_  um, could I…show you guys, something outside?" Bruce asked attentively, not exactly sure on what ground

Pepper stared, looking at him once before looking at the nearly set sun and fading light before looking back at him and lifting an eyebrow.

"Um- sure." Rhodey stated, obviously confused as he got off the couch, setting the book on the cushion and walking after Bruce while Pepper followed, frowning at the obvious events.

Bruce walked out, standing momentarily on the porch before walking further out, knowing that Jarvis wouldn't automatically have an audio feed in such a new residence.

Pepper gave a disgruntled sigh as she carefully started to walk across the gravel driveway in her impressive heels, following Bruce as he settled on leaning against the railing a fair distance away, which overlooked the cliff, faces and the churning, waters below.

"What is it, Bruce?" Rhodey asked, shifting and leaning against the fence while Bruce nervously wringed his hands.

"I- this is odd to ask, but-er-"

"What?" Pepper sighed, looking up at the sky as something akin to storm clouds were very slowly growing closer.

"Did Tony ever go to see therapists after he came back from Afghanistan?"

Pepper and Rhodey blinked, Pepper giving a strangled cough as she cleared her throat.

"I-I don't see how you need to know anything about tha-"

"Pepper." Bruce stated quietly, and yet firmly, causing her to silence immediately when she caught the slightly haunted look in his eyes, "It's important."

They stared, Rhodey not answering as Pepper finally choked a slight coughing sob noise as she sniffed, answering curtly even though it hurt her obviously.

"No. He didn't want us to take him to one- he refused to meet with anybody, insisted that he was fine." She coughed, and Bruce bit his lip looking out over the water.

"Was he?" He asked quietly, and it was silent, nothing before Rhodey answered.

"He was better than we expected- he didn't freak on us, he didn't scream or break down, he could have never gone if we didn't know better." Rhodey scoffed, and Bruce's hand tensed ever so slightly.

"He has PTSD- he's an aquaphobic now. He doesn't do well with…hospitals, and surgery…he doesn't like it when people shout at him in that language never got him to tell us the name of it…" Pepper mused, a twisted laugh transformed into a sob as it left her mouth.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to us about? Him and that?" Rhodey asked, and Bruce slowly shook his head, dropping down until his elbows were leant against the railing, head cradled in his hands.

"No- I…" Bruce hesitated, and the two watched him carefully, he nearly choked, trying to find a way to say it.

"I- SHIELD has files on everyone, they never really did proper testing, but a few professionals observed, and a few doctors managed to analyze his patterns…it's not  _completely_  positive, but it's in the 70-90% range that they're right…" He rambled, choking off and looking at Pepper and Rhodey, the former who was increasingly getting worried.

"Bruce? What is it Bruce- is it about Tony? Oh god- it's about Tony, isn't it?"

Bruce swallowed, and looked out over the water, biting his lip before blurting out what he never wanted to say to  _anyone._

"Tony's a diagnosed with NPD." He blurted, mentally smacking himself before looking at the two others, noticing Rhodey's frown and Pepper's confused face.

"NPD? Bruce, I- what does it…" Pepper trailed off, arms flopping uselessly to her side.

"It's a personality disorder- it's known as Narcissism." Bruce offered, and they stared, a silent moment while they looked at each other in the eye, not speaking but merely thinking.

"I know Tony's many things, but he is  _not_  a-"

"I'm sorry, Rhodey. He is…It's, it's not the term they throw around- it's…." Bruce struggled, and Pepper frowned, bottom lip quivering ever so slightly, before she drew her phone out of her pocket.

"Jarvis?" she asked quietly, the screen flicking alive as Bruce looked at it unsure- would he tell Tony?

"Tell me everything there is to know about Narcissism." She spoke voice a near whisper as the screen flashed blue, files branching and opening, loading and closing once more.

_"Yes Mrs. Potts. According to the databanks of the Mayoclinic-"_

"What's that?" Rhodey interrupted, and Jarvis took a few second to find an appropriate answer.

_"It is one of the largest treatment facilities in the world, for rare or unusual illnesses. According to the databanks,_ _Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they're superior to others and have little regard for other people's feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism."_

Pepper stared at her phone, and Rhodey clenched his hand on the railing, knuckles turning white as his whole arm trembled.

_"Would you like to hear the rest of the information?"_

"Jarvis- can you tell us the causes?" Pepper asked quietly, clearing her throat to speak louder after a brief pause.

_"The Mayoclinic does not have an in-depth research on how the disorder is created. According to them_ _,_ _'As with other mental disorders, the cause is likely complex. The cause may be linked to a dysfunctional childhood, such as excessive pampering, extremely high expectations, abuse or neglect. It's also possible that genetics or psychobiology — the connection between the brain and behavior and thinking — plays a role in the development of narcissistic personality disorder.'_

Rhodey cussed, head dropping and Pepper dropping her phone onto the ground as she now actually had real sobs wracking from her body, Bruce felt a slight trembled as he reached down and gingerly picked up the phone, Jarvis now understanding what was happening.

_"I apologize, Mrs. Potts. Long lasting effects of this disorder include abuse of substance, alcohol, depression, suicidal thoughts, relationship problems or other disorders."_

By this time, even Bruce was taking deep breaths to try and steady his offset emotions, during somewhere of this time rain had started to fall, a thick curtain of black drawing the sky near midnight as Pepper tried to use the rain as an excuse as to why she was crying.

"Shit Tony- I…" Rhodey murmured, obviously blaming himself for  _never noticing._

 _'Why didn't I ever notice, Tony? Why didn't I notice that you were hurt like me inside- that you were just as messed up as I am?'_  Bruce's mind subconsciously whispered, and he shook his head, trying to get the leaking thoughts to vanish with the rain.

A crack of lightning non-Thor made lit up the area, causing the nearby surroundings to be alit shortly with a brilliant display of light before it vanished, a teeth crunching roar as it slammed into a mountain in the distance.

"We should probably go insi-" Pepper started, stopping as she froze, Bruce looking in the same moment as another flash of lightning alit the ground again.

And Tony, who stood on the porch, dripping and eying the trio with eyes filled with a glazed dull shock, and something even  _worse,_  acceptance.

He didn't move as water soaked through his thin tee shirt, or how his usually well-tamed hair clung to his face in wet shaggy clumps, and then, the lightning faded, another roar and silence.

"Tony! Tony come ba-" Rhodey shouted, lightning lighting the areas with such clarity it took Rhodey's breathe away.

Tony was gone, and Bruce trembled slightly, trying to rid himself of the image of Tony staring from the shelter of the porch overhang, safe from any raindrops falling on his face for a while.

 _'He must have stepped out to hear us…he must have.'_  Bruce's mind added, prodding his almost frozen thought process.

Yes, that would be the only reason why he had drops running down his cheeks.

 


	12. Chapter 12

Tony was in his car; driving at an insane speed down the road with his suit in the back (Folded up, mind you) countless blueprints and a few dozen electronics that he required.

It wasn't the fact that the others found out he had Narcissism, nah, he had found that out a long time ago.

There was a time,  _such a long time ago_ , when Obadiah actually cared for him. When Obie would willingly go out of his way to make Tony happy, there was a time when Obadiah was the  _only_  one who cared for him.

Obadiah wanted to make sure that he was okay, after the sudden death of his mother and his father (He really didn't care for that bastard), and signed him up to meet with a phycologicalist. Making sure that the sudden problems wouldn't affect him or the company later on in life. He was diagnosed with Narsisstic behavior, only mild at that point of time.

Then, he ripped his heart out, walking away laughing and leaving Tony to die far behind…both literally, and metaphorically.

He  _had_  noticed that his tendencies had increased in that timeframe since Afghanistan, Obadiah's betrayal, his looming death, Vanko's attack, and more recently Loki's manipulative nature.

He had noticed the signs, and he didn't  _care._  It wasn't like the Palladium poisoning, where he could take a small blood test and see how long he had to live left. This…this wasn't going away. To be frank, he didn't understand why it was such a  _big deal._

Sure, some Narcissists turned suicidal, but…he was over that. Having an ignoring (and slightly abusive) dad, a mother who expected too much of you, no friends, kidnappings, and 'Capitan America'…it was a wonder he never actually used his courage to kill himself in his childhood.

 _"Sir? You are nearing the New Brunswick border."_ Jarvis warned over the car's stereo system, causing Tony to blink and notice that the cliff faces had changed into rolling plains and large windmills every so often.

"Thanks Jar. Anyway you can open up the line for me- I don't want to stop." He muttered quietly. And Jarvis didn't say anything as in the distance, the toll line flashed green and one of the open lines moved automatically for him, and he blared through, people screaming behind him to stop.

He wasn't going to stop.

Not now, not  _ever._

He blew right down the road; the sound of the deep engine purring was his only noise- not even music could distract his thoughts.

 _"Sir? Do you have an intended location?"_ Jarvis managed to ask through the system, and Tony said nothing, eyes focused and narrow while his knuckles were white with how tightly they clenched the steering wheel.

"No." He cut out shortly, and Jarvis was quiet a moment.

_"May I suggest a number of cities in the near vicinity? Frederickton is nearb-"_

"No, that's too close. What's the nearest city out of this Provence?" Tony asked carelessly, passing a small white car with a roar, as he was easily twenty over the speed limit.

_"Trans. Canada Highway extends further along New Brunswick before forking off into Maine, and continuing along the border along the St. Lawrence River and meeting with Quebec City."_

"I'll go to Quebec City- I don't think Fury knows I can speak French. Pepper won't tell anyone besides Bruce, and he doesn't know how to search for people in cities, not to mention visit them." Tony muttered under his breath, passing another car while Jarvis wisely did not speak, understanding how precarious this situation was.

It was hours of fast driving when Tony finally saw the skyline glowing in the distance, casting bright lights in the sheer darkness of the highway and roads separating it, from the side of the river he was on. He turned, quickly traveling under the bridge that reminded him of the Mackinaw Bridge (Surprisingly cleaner) and drove into the city, at once bypassing the traffic with skill only he could possess.

 _"I have rented the top suit of the Chateau Frontenac_   _for you, sir."_  Jarvis stated while Tony automatically turned, having recognized his hotel name from all of those Canadian business trips.

Tony Stark did not mind the Canadians, many of his colleges had made crude jokes about Canadians ( _How many Canadians does it take to screw in a light bulb? How many does it take to chip it out of the ice?)_ However, Tony didn't feel that way in the slightest. He had met Italian executives, Russian inventors, Bulgarian biologists, Australian Doctors, and yet, it seemed that every culture had a rich aristocrat that seemed too rude for words. Except for Canada- it was impossible how nice they were. The last time he was here to meet the Prime Minister, he ended up having dinner, (The Prime minister paid the bill-  _he did!)_ , inviting him to a banquet, and then inviting him to coffee, in which Tony had to bribe the local coffee waitress to take his money and not the mans.

He rather liked Canada, if he could say so himself. Out of all his favorite places to live, Canada was a close second to the U.S. The nearby location had nothing to do with it either.

He pulled into the parking loop where a young man awaited, ready to help him unload and carry his bags for him.

"I got this." Tony nodded, taking his suitcase- Iron Man, suitcase, and walking up while one drove his car to parking and the other carried his hard metal shell suitcase with his actual clothes.

Inside the elevator, the boy looked at him once with a small grin before asking, "Are you Tony Stark?" In which Tony gave a small sigh and nodded, awaiting the bombardment of questions or requests for autographs.

Instead, the boy just smiled a little wider, stepped out of the elevator, and held his door open to the largest suit in the building.

"You aren't going to ask for an autograph?" Tony asked, bemused with the frown the boy suddenly brought to his lips.

"No. You look tired. It was a pleasure meeting you." He grinned, gently setting his suitcase down and almost skipping away to help another couple with their bags.

Tony stared, eventually sighed and muttering under his breath over how  _'stubborn too-nice Canadians.'_  With an affectionate laugh and closing the door behind him, dropping onto the plush white bed with a vicious lunge, landing among the soft pillows and nearly passing out just by how  _good_  it felt.

He loved Canada.

x-(X)-x

The next day he was working, room a complete mess with papers and clothes scattered among the sliding door that created his room. He looked up at the soft knock at his door, and frowned as he answered it yawning although it was nearly noon.

He blinked as he looked at the middle aged lady, who was holding a trey of different sorts of foods as well as one of those cute little maple sugar tarts just because she could probably.

She blinked with oddly bright almost yellow, brown eyes and smiled, holding the trey and rapidly firing off French with a slightly English accent.

 _"Good Afternoon, Mr. Stark. I believe it was your…AI, that informed us that you forget the added room service."_ She beamed, and gently moved in the room, not even batting an eye at the mess as she set the food on the glass table, and gently moved a few coffee cups aside and eyes the shortage in grains.

 _"Do you require more coffee, Mr. Stark? Any preference?"_ She asked, noticing that the ice coffee was untouched.

"Err-  _No ice coffee please."_ He added, wincing at how the words were forced in his exhaustion, normally he was able to speak so fluidly.

 _"Of course."_ She nodded with a grin, although frowned a few seconds after.  _"If you wish, another maid could bring you your coffee. Would you prefer if she spoke English-"_

 _"No! It's fine. I promise. I can speak all sorts of languages, it's really no problem."_ He assured with a grin while running his hands through his hair to mess it up further.

 _"Yes, Mr. Stark. Enjoy your time. I must recommend the park this time of season. The leaves are just beginning to fall."_ She added quietly walking out and closing the door behind as he blinked, yawning again and dumping out a cup of already cold coffee that was more creamer then coffee left.

"Jarvis? You told the hotel to send me food?" He asked, slightly annoyed as Jarvis' voice came from the TV system (He hooked him up a few hours ago.)

 _"Yes sir. I was programmed to look after your well being."_  Jarvis replied, and Tony sighed, poking some sort of thick slices of ham that was edged with some sort of yellow crust.

"Jar- what is this?"

_"I believe that is referred to as, 'back bacon."_

Tony stared, picking up a piece of the meat hesitantly before taking a large bite and chewing thoughtfully before swallowing with a frown.

"Jarvis…this is just ham."

x-(X)-x

The house cleaner was right- it  _was_ beautiful out.

The park was beginning to lose leaves and the sky was alit with thousands of shades of vibrant yellows and deep reds that drifted and flashed in his eyes at the softest chill.

He sat on a marble bench, looking at the kids that laughed and ran around as they jumped in a large leaf pile the park attendant was blowing together for them, he was laughing although they were probably making his job much harder.

A few women were out walking large fit dogs, and a few couples walked around, thick earmuffs and cute scarves around their necks as they had their hands intertwined and swung with a laugh and exaggerated movements.

He felt like he was intruding as he had his hands nestled deep in his pockets, watching the park where a little girl, maybe seven years old, walked along side her dad, the resemblance too similar to be a coincidence while they looked sad, the man wearing a ring while there was no sign of a wife in sight.

He sighed, looking away from the sad and obviously, poor two as they trudged through the yellow and orange fallen leaves, girl handing onto his much larger hand with tiny dirty mittens while he had a ripped jacket on.

"Hey." He called, the two looking over while he got up, his status in society obvious with his fancy leather jacket and expensive shoes.

"Here" He nodded, handing over a quickly scrawled note and the man's widened eyes said a story of their own while he smiled in gratitude, walking off with a much happier mood with the confused little girl trailing behind.

But Tony, Tony felt  _sick._

He didn't feel anything. He looked at the two and felt nothing, not the slightest remnants of being upset by the display, or a feeling of sympathy over what the two were lacking.

He felt  _nothing_. And that's what concerned him. Was he getting worse? Was he losing all links of empathy to anyone? He didn't feel anything towards those two, or feel the joy he was sure he would usually when looking at the playing kids. He only felt slight remnants of jealously over the two laughing couple, and a larger pang as he saw a little family of a happy man, wife, and little boy wearing a cute little windbreaker with flushed cheeks.

He gave those two money, for the hint of anything; shouldn't he feel proud of what he had done? Shouldn't he feel happy? Feel  _anything,_  something that should relate to how one felt after donating to charity?

He felt numb, and he continued walking across the streets, past a few shop windows with expensive dresses and jewelry for women as they bustled around in the increasing chill in the air.

He sighed, crossing the streets towards a less populated area where he saw something move quickly and a loud clashing bang from an alley- a homeless man? No, there weren't any on the streets here, that was nearly impossible.

He moved closer to the alley to see what it was and relaxed with a sigh, looking at the tipped garbage can and the black cat that sat attentive on the lid of a recycling bin, watching his with  _much much_  to clear green intelligent eyes.

"Hey there." He sighed, some part of him hoping to find something to attack, he was disappointed it was only a mangy street cat.

It narrowed its eyes, which drew Tony's eyes to it again with a frown.

It wasn't a street cat, it was much to tidy and hygienic, not to mention the tip of a fang pushing out from its lips was pristine ivory white, cleaner than any he had seen on an animal before, also the long thin body of the creature that managed to avoid looking anorexic.

"Cat." He grumbled, mentally slapping with how attentive he was to the animal before turning and stalking away, ignoring the way it bared its teeth angrily, claws sliding out and digging into the clean plastic as it clawed something loudly and tantalizingly slowly. Tony stopped, hesitating before continuing and walking away, shaking his head and muttering under his breath as the cat's nostrils flared in annoyance with how Tony had ignored it.

The cat hissed, looked down at the green plastic frowning with the crude words carved into the lid.

_S.C.O.R.P._

_'No,'_  The cat decided, tail snapping around angrily from the alley,  _'I'll look harder.'_  It concluded, jumping down and padding towards the back fence, jumping up and landing gracefully, claws extended to help balance itself before it sprang again, a puff of black and feathers feel as a large silky raven cawed loudly, taking to the skies.

x-(X)-x

_Tap._

Tony's head craned up, looking immediately to the one window that had the blinds drawn- he was working with holographs, and didn't want any glares on the screens.

He blinked, getting slowly to his feet and approaching the window warily- paranoia had gotten to him at this point.

_Tap….tap…_

He drew closer, then finally just as he was reaching out for the blinds, the door knocked, and he spun.

He yanked the blinds back, blinking at the harsh sunlight before frowning, mentally smacking himself. What could be there? The ledge was six inches, if that. Nothing could get that, plus the fact he was on the top floor.

The door knocked again and Tony turned, opening it to the French-Canadian house cleaner he had grown used to, carrying her signature trey and his dinner.

She smiled, setting the trey down before vanishing once more, leaving Tony to his work.

Over the two weeks he had been there, he had accomplished very little. Xavier had contacted him once more, it wasn't a casual visit or anything, after all, the idea of a bald paralyzed telepath concerned him slightly. It wasn't that he had anything against mutants, he was just…cautious, with their power. The fact that they were  _incredible_  at getting information was just an added bonus.

Xavier had reported to him one of his…friends? Student? Tony wasn't sure, named 'Wolverine' (Tony hacked a little into an old government file that was experimenting on mutants. Turns out some guy named Logan was codename Wolverine, they did something with metal and his bones…Tony didn't really care to read further) had found information from a guy in the black market who knew about S.C.O.R.P.

It wasn't much to go on, if anything. He found out the acronym, and what it stood for. Security Communications over Ruin Procedures. What that meant, Tony had the faintest clue.

He had it written down carefully, as well as other information Jarvis had been able to copy from the call, having a running script came in handy.

S.C.O.R.P. as far as he could tell, was the glue that made all evil villains and weapon projects possible. Tony assumed, that he hadn't known much about it while he was designing weapons, was because his weapons were already successful enough without S.C.O.R.P.'s interference. How they had contacted Obadiah was unknown- how they had contacted  _Hammer_  was unknown, but they obviously were watching him if it meant framing him with Hammer's death. S.C.O.R.P. was good, but an agency created on the sole purpose of funding and helping people with weapons seemed a little…contradictive.

Supplying weapons and other building materials to smaller businesses was almost  _asking_  for a betrayal move, attacking them and destroying S.C.O.R.P. Yet again, Hammer's reaction was so horrified; it implied that perhaps S.C.O.R.P. was something to be feared as an entity, rather than a business.

S.C.O.R.P. had created a living breathing mechanical monster that the Avengers had fought.

That meant somebody was targeting the Avengers and used S.C.O.R.P.'s resources to create the thing, but that wouldn't match up with Tony's framing and attack. That meant that S.C.O.R.P. was after him- but why  _him?_  If anything, it would more likely be sent after Natasha knowing hell knows how many countries wanted her dead. Even after Thor would make some sense-, terrorists upset with the obvious show of religion standpoint.

However, if they were after him, it meant they were after something  _of his._  It could be his suit, due to their obvious mechanical curiosity, but what did he have that the others  _didn't?_

_Tap…tap…_

He spun, grabbing the lamp off the table next to him and pointing it at the window in his right hand while yanking the blinds back.

Nothing.

He prodded the window, swinging it wide open even and huffed in annoyance and chuckle lightly at how paranoid he was getting.

"God, I'm going insane." He muttered, moving to set the lamp down.

"Yes, I believe you so are right."

He spun around, grasping the lamp tightly and pointing it at his invader as he recognized the smooth tone of voice, eyes narrowing as he noticed someone sitting at  _his_  table eating  _his_  food.

"Are you going to stand there, or sit down? I do not believe a light fixture will do much harm in this scenario." Loki mused, leaning against the chair back as he eyes Tony who glared at him.

Tony, who was feeling oddly suicidal, set the lamp down, walked over, sat down and stole said food Loki had previously been eating.

Loki stared; arching one graceful eyebrow as Tony purposefully took a long slow bite out of some sort of French pasta.

"Are you quite finished?" He asked after a few seconds in a lengthy drawl, causing Tony to finish chewing and push the trey to the side with just enough force for it to waver on the point of falling off and not.

"Now- why aren't you locked up in Asgard with all your other friendly buddies?" Tony asked, and Loki twitched ever so slightly, causing Tony to mentally cheer at getting somewhere.

"Why aren't I killing you yet and delivering your corpse to your residence in the land known as Nova Scotia?" Loki returned, all kidding finished as Tony sobered up almost immediately.

"How do you know about that place?" He nearly growled, causing Loki to tilt his eyes and blink lazily.

"You spoke of it weeks ago while noticing me in an alleyway." He dryly stated, causing Tony to blink in confusion before eyes widening in understanding.

"Oh my god- you were a  _cat."_ He spoke, nearly laughing as Loki glared, causing him to try to hide his snickers.

"Yes, I was in feline form. However, I have a preposition for you." Loki stated calmly, and Tony very slowly made his way for one of his nearest drawers he knew held the kitchen knives.

"Oh? And why shouldn't I put on the suit at this moment and blow you all the way back to Asgard?" Tony asked slowly grabbing one of the nearest steak knives he could find.

"Because I know about S.C.O.R.P." He stated dryly, and Tony stiffened completely, "And you can't get rid of me, when I have information."

"And why shouldn't I just pry it out of you?" Tony hissed in anger, his mind pestering him about  _what_  he could learn, what Loki probably knew that he didn't…

"Because, I haven't attacked you. I could have killed you weeks ago, and I didn't." He stated confidently, and Tony froze, because Loki  _could_  have.

"What do you want?" Tony growled, and Loki blinked lazily.

"Define the question of your statement, Stark." Loki yawned, and Tony's hand clenched into a fist.

"What do you want from me? You're here for a reason, and I don't understand  _why_  you'd be here instead of with Thor." Tony barked, and Loki's eyes flashed in anger.

"Thor," He growled lowly, "Is a fool. I'd prefer the company of one with a higher intelligence then that of a toaster." He stated, and Tony resisted the urge to snort.

"Wait- intelligence. You said  _intelligence."_  Tony repeated in awe, mind quickly running at a million miles an hour as he thought of other possibilities.

Loki was silent as he watched Tony pace, mind wiring and speaking in hushed tones under his breath.

"The others weren't targeted because they aren't as smart as me- I'm a  _genius,_  but if tha-" And Loki started ignoring him, fancying the knife on the countertop, flipping it before catching it with ease as Tony ranted on.

"The monster was biological with mechanic properties, the mechanic properties was shoddy, crap at best. But if they're chasing me they'd know that I'd notice the mechanic properties, but the biologic had  _no way_  of actually working with the way the mechanics worked-"

"The biological creature was created by combining biologic abilities with magic, Stark." Loki spoke up, causing Tony to look at him in surprise.

"Magic? I don't believe in that hocus-pocu." He froze, seeing the knife hover in midair before scowling at Loki who had one eyebrow raised.

"The organization S.C.O.R.P. is creating weapons, you've noticed, yes?" Loki added, causing Tony to give a nodding scowl, wondering  _how_  he was having a civil conversation with said villain.

"They are attempting to mix mechanical properties with biologic weaponry. They are also attempting to… _cannibalize_  magic and create hybrid creatures." Loki scowled, speaking through gritted teeth towards the end.

"But you-"Tony's eyes widened as he whispered the words, causing Loki to give a dark and dry laugh.

"You see it now?" He asked amused, causing Tony to scowl, swiping his hands through the holographs in frustration, running a hand through his hair.

"I propose a temporary truce, extended until the organization of S.C.O.R.P. falls, or we fail." Loki stated completely at ease with Tony looking at him warily.

"…They caught you, didn't they? That's how they got that thing working." He stated, referring to the mechanic monster from months before, and Loki hesitated.

"…Yes, I managed to destroy their base of operations and other experiments during my escape. I am willing to further allow you to investigate the area of said base. I am unaware if their research branched to further areas of Midgard." Loki stated, and Tony frowned.

"Probably did. Managed to drain you pretty good, huh?" Tony muttered and Loki scowled, flinging the knife with full force where it stabbed the wall hard, sinking halfway through the blade.

"I am not  _drained."_  Loki hissed, eyes flashing, but Tony gave a low chuckle.

"But you don't deny the fact they stole some off of you? What were you, some sort of magic cow?" He asked, Loki hissed in wordless anger before rising, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"How dare you! You are lucky midgardian that our little truce spares you!" He spat and Tony waved him off, pulling up a hologram.

"Yeah yeah, I don't like you. You don't like me. Let's get this little truce thing in order and be a dear and point out the base?"


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you  _sure-"_

"Yes! Now silence yourself, you insufferable fool!"

Loki had been leading Tony in the blank forests for nearly forty minutes, as kept track by Jarvis, who remained ever patient.

"I still don't see why you can't just turn all Edgar Allen Poe on me, and fly ahead." Tony whined, and Loki shot him an exasperated look.

"I've told you, Stark! You flying behind is hardly inconspicuous-"

"Then fly ahead and scout!" Tony whined, and Loki rolled his eyes, knowing that a full on battle would not end well, with Stark his odds were a little better.

They trudged on, Tony constantly muttering under his breath as his feet sunk in fresh mud, or slipped on a shallow puddle in tree roots.

Loki froze, one arm lifted as he tensed, entire body ready to spring as Tony nervously shifted, and very slowly, Loki moved forward. His movements were lithe and cat like as he weaved between enormous ferns with little to no sound. Large green eyes attentive as his face was expressionless.

"There." He murmured softly, Tony brushing a fern aside as he peeped out of the gap between two pine trees and his eyes widening at the sight of the nearly obliterated base. A huge crack split it into two halves, looking ironically like a split watermelon.

"How in the-"Tony gaped, and Loki shifted, already weaving his way down the path towards the recent wreckage.

"Rudolph! Wait up!" tony shouted, hurrying down and Loki's eyes narrowed, grabbing Tony who ran to hurry up, before lifting him by his throat, fingers painfully constricting.

"Do not take this in any other way, Stark. You are only here, to help me destroy this said organization. This does not allow you to give me any ridiculous names in such way of friendliness." Loki snapped before dropping the gasping Tony and continuing.

The metal door had been yanked off the hinges, each of the bolts were melted into the floor, faintly resembling what they once were.

"Wow- massive heat to melt solid steel." Tony muttered, nudging the small remains of the heavy-duty bolts.

"The release of magic created a large friction surface. Bending and melting your puny metals are child's play." Loki scoffed, moving further into the building as Tony managed to feel slightly insulted.

They walked on, after a while Loki held his palm out flat, managing to summon a small but very bright green flame, casting the halls in long shadows while Tony glared at the tiny dancing flame.

"You know- that is impossible." He mentioned, pointing to the flame while Loki scoffed.

"Possibly by  _your_ sciences." He rolled his eyes and Tony frowned.

"Magic is science we don't understand yet." Tony shot off, having memorized the quote long ago. Loki's lips twitched ever so slightly as he let the flame dance across his fingertips.

"Arthur C. Clarke. Good man." Loki mused, causing Tony to look at him with lifted eyebrows.

"…I find the fact you know who he is frankly disturbing." Tony blinked while Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Do you take me for as much of an ignorant fool as Thor?" Loki asked, and casted Tony a look of slight exasperation.

"Well…I don't doubt that you can operate a fridge, but-"

"Stark. I can cook a full holiday dinner, which  _includes_ , homemade bread in one of your Midgardian contraptions- oh. And Arthur C. Clarke,  _'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"_ Loki quotes, walking at a much brusquer pace while Tony stared, slightly in awe.

They walked on, and Tony glanced around before spotting a small yellow and black striped box.

"Wait- I may be able to get power on, depending on how badly you destroyed this place." Tony muttered, walking over and prying the box open, frowning at some of the fraying circuits.

Loki quietly walked over, remaining a distance to cast just enough light as Tony fiddled with the breaker, re-routing a few unimportant systems, like the alarm, to the lights and flipping the switch.

Nothing.

"…Great, just peachy. Looks like there is no enough juice to jump-start the system-"Loki sighed, walking over and pressing his arm to the box, narrowing his eyes as suddenly the lights jumped alive with a few loud clicking noises. Loki withdrew, shaking his fingers to rid him of the flame as he noticed Tony scowling.

"What?" He snapped, and Tony sighed, turning to walk away in the florescent lighting, looking for the main computer room.

"The room that held the most intelligent of the foolish mortals is to the left." Loki drawled, and Tony sighed at the description, guess he could not fix  _everything._

They walked along, the steady sounds of his metallic footsteps and the near silent ones of Loki made an odd mixture. Constantly, he would check to make sure the god had not vanished on him (although he expected it fully)

He glanced back, and Loki was next to a door, apparently waiting to see how long it would take Tony to notice his absence.

"You could have called." Tony muttered under his breath, approaching the door that apparently required a pass code.

"Why didn't you just bust the door down?" Tony asked, and Loki narrowed his eyes, responding stiffly.

"I'd prefer to use magical means only as a dire necessity."

Wha- Oh.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Tony muttered typing away on the small scanner with his large red fingers before Jarvis was able to override the lock, allowing the door to slide open.

The room's lights flickered on, showing the multiple computers, a few had cracked monitors or screens flashing a multitude of colours all stating in bold letters  _'ERROR'_  Mouse's were strewn everywhere, and metallic contraptions were imbedded in the walls. Few chairs appeared to be melted, and a wild disarray of gel pens had exploded, sending a rainbow of neon sticky ink to the closest chairs and coffee mugs.

"Ouch. You really wrecked this place." Tony murmured, moving towards a nearby computer and flicking the monitor on, already breaking through the field of code that surrounded the 'Error' screen.

"Yes. I was one of the only options." Loki clarified, watching the lines and lines of words and numbers as he frowned, eyebrows scrunching down as the lines of code were slowly transformed into the access points required to get into files.

Minutes passed and Tony continued to type away, Loki glancing around and watching the door at all times.

"…What's freaking you out, Reindeer Games?" Tony asked, having noticed Loki glance around continuously from his corner vision.

"I will ignore the incorrect use of my name, and will not answer properly until you address me so." Loki huffed, causing Tony to roll his eyes.

"Fine, what's got your knickers in a twist, _Loki?"_

Loki's eyes narrowed, but he knew that was as close as he was going to get.

"I sense another outside presence, but it fades and reappears before I can locate its whereabouts." Loki stated, and Tony froze.

"You sure?" He asked, and Loki gave him a pointed look, as if asking  _'Why would I tell you if I wasn't?'_

"Jarvis, scan our location and tell me if theirs thermal increase in the vicinity." Tony ordered, the speaker in his ear beeping an agreement.

"You trust a sentiment machine to do your bidding?" Loki asked, slightly repulsed while also slightly yearning to learn more.

"Machines are nice- they're predictable and do just as you want." Tony shrugged, and Loki was quiet a moment.

"I agree, mortals are too conflicted with emotions, which negate against logical choices on their part. What makes you so similar to those you near share kinship with? These,  _machines."_  Loki nodded to a computer, and Tony felt a slight pang of hurt, although he knew Loki did not mean it.

Tony was silent, swallowing and suddenly, the skintight metal of his suit was too cold, and it felt as if it was choking him, closing in on him…

Logically, he knew that this was impossible. Logically, he knew that he was just disturbed by the statement.

Mentally, he was hurt.

"Yeah, well, I guess some of us are different." Tony muttered, voice holding a little bite Loki took notice of and wisely remained quiet as Tony quickly scanned over the many files, eyes flickering across the pages and pages of data.

"There's too much here for me to look at- I'm going to have Jarvis copy it. Have a link on that thing yet?" Tony asked, exposing a few circuits from his suit that Jarvis used to copy the mainframe down onto his software.

"It's jumping or vanishing. I'm unable to locate it." Loki stiffly stated as Tony nodded, and Loki cursed quietly, spinning and looking at the door.

Tony turned, repulsors aimed at the opening while Loki held a mysteriously summoned dagger in one arm, ready to throw.

"…It's gone." Loki growled, lowering the dagger while Tony let out a sigh of relief.

He looked back at the computer, and Jarvis quickly detached, having gained everything, he needed to.

"Okay, we're good here." Tony nodded, Loki moving towards the door as Tony followed.

Loki moved, pausing in the doorway for a second before his hand tensed.

"What is i-"

_"Shhhcrrrriiii!"_

Tony spun, the thing already wailing loudly as a dagger protruded from the snout on his, shaking its metallic and fleshy head before snapping its head around, acid green eyes staring at Tony.

"You have  _got_  to be kidding me!" Tony yelped, firing a repulsor blast, in which the thing snarled.

"I kid not, Stark." Loki growled, twirling a dagger as when tony blinked- it was  _gone._

"Jarvis! Thermal imaging!" Tony ordered, everything casted in cold blues and a dull purple- even  _Loki_  was a dull blue, he'd have to ask him about tha-

_"Shhhhcrii!"_

Tony grunted as a long tail smacked him, invisible on his radar, into the wall.

"Jarvis!"

_"Nothing has shown on Thermal Imaging, Sir."_

Tony grunted, restoring his vision to normal as the pale grey thing made an odd chirping noise before snapping at Loki, who flashed his arm out fast enough with the dagger to form a long cut down its snout, a dull thud as it hit metal.

_"Sir, it seems to be made entirely out of metal."_

"Then why were you using thermal imaging!" Tony cursed, jumping upwards fast enough to grab the long robotic dinosaur  _things,_  tail and try his might to throw it.

It squawked as it felt, claws scrabbling on the ground as it hit the sheet metal wall, plowing through while ripping up its skin as if it was tissue paper.

Loki casted a glance to Tony, and gave him a slight nod before chasing after, movement too fluid to be called anything besides a 'dance.'

"Jarvis- look through the databanks for some sort of info on that thi-"

"It's gone." Loki growled, suddenly appearing in front of Tony, causing him to jump in surprise.

"What?" Tony gasped, and Loki's eyes narrowed in anger towards that thing. Loki turned, breathing scathing comments under his breath as he looked at the wrecked hole and shaking his head, looking up and down the hallway.

"It's gone- it must have been one of the magically experimented creatures." Loki growled, making his way towards the wall.

"You think there's more of them?" Tony asked, scanning along the walls while Loki exhaled lowly.

"It is highly likely. What is more likely, is finding where the deactivation for these creatures are." Loki spoke, jumping through the crack, and looking towards the left before quietly making his way.

Tony thudded after, looking everywhere in the shadowed corridor, ears pinpricked for the slightest sound.

_"Sir. The results say the previous raptor was an attempt to reanimate a dinosaur known as an Utahraptor. One of the prime hunting Theropod of its time."_

"Loki, we're against one of the best hunting dino's. Huh, maybe you're as old as they are." Tony mused, looking around while Loki sighed.

"Stark, I am hardly –"Loki's eyes widened and suddenly Tony heard it a moment before it attacked.

 _"Shhhh-glsssps."_  It gurgled as Tony dropped, back to the ground and sending a repulsor blast, directly, into the things throat.

It groaned, jaw dropping with a creaking noise before falling, hitting the floor hard as  _sparks_  actually shot out of the large hole in which nearly decapitated the thing.

"Good? It's done?" Tony panted, mostly from surprise if anything.

Loki walked over, looking at the thing before kicking it hard, knocking the head around so he could see it.

"No, this one doesn't have a wound on its muzzle. It's a different one." Loki sighed, turning and about to walk before he froze, looking back at the thing and approaching it warily.

"Loki? Lok's." Tony tried but didn't move as Loki grabbed the things' arms, yanking them apart and ripping the flesh all the way down its belly.

"Okay- eww, what are you  _doing?"_  Tony yelped, noticing how Loki was now  _yanking_  metal bits out of the thing's stomach.

Loki stilled, a smirk flaring up on him as he removed something a cloudy white and pulsing green with many colours.

"Okay I give,  _what is that?"_  Tony nearly shrieked, and Loki rose, carrying the large Grapefruit sized thing.

"Quartz rock, inside of it?" Loki mused, hands constricting as the rock groaned and powder fell to the floor, cracking right now the side.

Tony didn't muse on the god's strength, and instead watching in awe as the green light escaped, trailing upwards and piercing itself on Loki before vanishing, leaving no trace or mark.

"Magic…" Tony whispered, and Loki's eyes met his and they moved, once again on march.

x-(X)-x

It turned out that the other dinosaur was investigating outside, having found the crack in which Loki and Tony entered.

"It must have been released when the power turned on." Tony cursed, spotting the dagger protruding from its snout.

"And whose idea was it to turn it on?" Loki hummed, lifting one eyebrow and looking at Tony who scowled.

"And who was it who actually  _turned_  it on?" Tony hummed, and Loki scowled, looking away.

"Back on Asgard, we have a word for this." Loki mused, and Tony tilted his head.

"Here, we say touché'. You?" Tony asked, noticing the grin Loki had.

" _Baὀir."_ Loki spoke, obviously Old Norse, as it seemed elegant and slightly barbaric.

"Huh, that's fun to say." Tony blinked, trying it out on the tip of his tongue.

"Indeed." Loki agreed, looking around for the dinosaur…

Which seemed to have vanished.

"Uhh….where did it g-"

_"Sssshhhhhcrrreeeeiiii!"_

Tony yelped, rolling over and kicking upward, wincing as the long claw of the thing scratched over his suit, sparks flying as it snarled, long teeth and maw large enough to swallow his head.

Loki was suddenly on its back, wielding a large pointed chunk of metal from one of the broken supports. The dinosaur screeched, and howled as the pole found its way buried deep in the things back.

It thrashed, and suddenly Loki was under it, craning its neck up and he flipped, grabbing the throat and  _tugging…_

It collapsed, legs twitching as its neck and obviously metallic sub route was crushed.

Tony panted, looking at the thing as Loki did the same thing as before, freeing his magic from the belly of the beast and looking at Tony, eyes trailing the large gouge in the metal plating.

"It seems that a raptors claw is the weakness of your metal shell." Loki mused, and Tony stared at the glistening claws, made out of some sort of metal.

"Break off a claw for me, will you?" Tony groaned, and Loki shrugged, tugging and cracking the entire hand off from the metallic wrist, causing Tony to give him a dirty look, not that he would notice it.

Tony grabbed it, twisting it and noticing the slight gleam before he clicked two of them together, seeing the sparks fly.

"Adamantium. Damn it, I thought they stopped making this a while ago- if I found enough I'd make an entire suit out of it." Tony muttered.

"It holds its own against." Loki pointed out, but Tony sighed, looking at the gouge.

"I can't just  _fix_  this with magic, Lok's. It takes time." Tony groaned, and Loki looked at him odd.

"… _What_ , did you call me?" He asked, and Tony blinked.

"What? Lok's? It's a nickname." Tony clarified while Loki looked amused and slightly annoyed. "My name is two syllables, Stark."

"Well not it's one." Tony bickered back, and Loki threw back his head and  _laughed._  An honest laugh at how the bickering was so childish.

Tony stared, a smile on his own lips, that is, until they finally touched ground and turned to start on the path they originally were on.

The Avengers, in their proud and spandex covered glory, stood in their path, Steve had his shield up, Thor with Mjolnir, and Clint with Natasha pointing a gun at his head.

He blinked, and looked at Loki, who was staring also.

He was standing next to their number 1 enemy. Bad.

He was holding a hand to  _something_. (Admitted, it did look like it was ripped off…) extra bad.

It looked like he had not fought Loki. Double extra bad.

He summed up everybody's thoughts quickly.

"Well…" He drawled, attracting attention. "Damn."


	14. Chapter 14

There were many things in that situation that annoyed Tony, the sudden presence of the Avengers, the fact that Jarvis hadn't picked them up until he was literally staring at them, or the fact that Loki was smiling, freaking  _amused_  by it.

"I  _swear,_  this isn't as it looks." Tony offered, holding out his hands, before quickly dropping them as the raptor's entire hand came into view.

"I'm not sure- this is pretty amusing in the perspective of your allies." Loki mused, shifting his weight and barely being able to hold back a large amused grin.

"Oh shut up, would you? You aren't exactly helping." Tony scoffed, and Loki shot a mock affronted look.

"Me? Why, I thought my tongue was something mortals dreamt of having the honor of quarreling with."

"Trust me- I think most mortals are just fine giving you a kick in the shin." Tony snorted, looking at the Avengers, who seemed even more tensed if anything.

"I-"Loki stated, about to retort while Tony held up one hand, causing Loki to nearly go cross-eyed as he saw the red and gold palm.

"Shush- no talkie." Tony spoke, and looked towards the Avengers, and Steve held his shield up.

"…Tony." He spoke, voice low and warning and Tony blinked, moving his hand in a robotic wave.

"Sup Capsicle." Tony nodded, and if anything, Clint tensed further, eyes locked on Loki.

"Resist force and we will use force to take you in to SHIELD." Natasha spoke up, her guns clicking as the safety was unlocked.

"…I do not understand this confrontation- they are speaking to  _you,_  am I correct? They wish for  _your_ capture?" Loki spoke, voice smooth and not betraying his confusion while Thor's hands tightened on Mjolnir, the leather grip squeaking slightly in protest.

"Do not twist our words, brother." Thor growled, and Loki had a flash of annoyance on his face, before his entire body language shifted.

"I am  _not_ your brother." Loki hissed, similar to the cat Tony had spotted in the alley such a long time ago.

"Whoa whoa- let's cool this tension, okay?" Tony stated, taking an obvious step between the two, in which Loki bared his teeth at Thor, who looked at him evenly back.

"Move, Stark." Loki growled, and Tony gave him an even look, visor down while his brown eyes locked on the emerald.

After a few seconds of staring, Loki turned- he was smart. He understood that a fight now would not help with their main mission.

"Stand down, Loki and Iron Man." Steve shouted, and Tony twitched.

"Iron Man? Now, you've wounded me." Tony whined, although he felt concerned at the empty feeling.

"…I have no conclusion. Why are your comrades treating you so?" Loki scowled, crossing his arms while Thor looked between the two in exasperation.

"Brother! Surely you know better- why else would you alley with an outcast?" Thor called, and Loki spun, taking a step back in alarm to distance himself slightly.

"Outcast." He stared blankly, and Tony twitched slightly, eyes still looking at Steve as he responded icily.

"The organization used a weapon similar to my repulsors- they made a massacre at a prison look like my handy-work. I showed up to stop them,"

"And you were seen and not they." Loki finished with a slight sigh, shaking his head. He gave one slightly amused and a nearly idiotic look towards Tony.

"You recorded their security footage, did you not? That includes the footage from their warriors." Loki stated, and Tony's eyes lit up looking at Loki in awe.

"…How do you know tha-"

"Because I am Asgardian, it does not make me ignorant enough to dismiss the lifestyle and technology of you mortals." Loki stated with a scoff, causing Tony to shake his head in surprise.

"Jarvis-"

_"Correct Sir. Mr. Loki is correct in his assumption. I have already scanned the security footage- the incident at the Prison has been caught on footage. Shall I copy the file onto an external port for SHIELD databanks?"_

"Do it." Tony stated, a small beep and a small chip was expelled from his left gauntlet.

"' _Widow'_  This has the security footage. Take what you want." Tony shrugged, setting it slowly down on the ground of the broken base, taking care to set it on a protruding chunk of metal, letting it contrast with the rust stained metal.

"Wai-" Thor began to shout, but Loki spun, one hand grabbing Tony's shoulder as suddenly a painful compressing feeling and a similar tingling feeling as if his entire body had been slapped by a rather upset Ex-girlfriend.

He groaned, stumbling and reaching out, jumping in surprise as it hit with a low sitting table, he turned, visor up and scanning as he blinked in surprise.

Loki was sitting at the table in his small-added kitchen in his hotel room, calmly eating food that Tony did not know how it appeared.

"…I- you." Tony stuttered, lowering the visor as his armor unlinked, letting him drop the metallic claw to the ground where it chimed lightly on the tile flooring.

"…What?" Loki asked, calmly sipping the magically conjured Tea in his cup.

Tony stared, blinking before shaking his head and collapsing onto the couch.

"Do you have to work at freaking the crap out of everyone- of does it just come naturally?" Tony groaned, and Loki blinked lazily.

"Stark. I am the God of Mischief. If I took effort into my abilities, it would hardly be as amusing on my part, would it not?" Loki stated, blinking largely while Tony just snorted.

"Stop using big words- I may have a higher IQ then you, but I don't feel like thinking."

"The moods in which require thinking are the only incentive you have to."

"Shut up, Reindeer Games."

x-(X)-x

"Will someone explain to me,  _why_  there is a godammn chip on my desk?" Fury asked, eyebrows twitching in annoyance while a small looking agent shifted in fear from his spot on the floor.

"It's from Stark, sir." Natasha stated in a monotone, eyes not shifting as Fury hesitated, lifting it and looking at the small looking agent.

"W-we look and th-there's no b-bugs or v-virus-s's." He stuttered before practically lunging for the door and escaping.

Fury lighting turned the chip in his hand, frowning as the obviously Stark-tech mechanicals glittered when the light hit it right.

"Should we watch it, sir?" Clint asked, leaning against a chair with his bow resting beside him, watching with a guarded expression.

"If Stark wanted to crash our system, he damn well could have by now." Fury grumbled, inserting his chip and spinning on his chair as the holographic screen started loading the security footage.

They watched, silent and slowly feeling the sense of guilt as the men charged in, shooting with bulky advanced tech that was so similar to repulsors, it made Steve cringe.

They killed the prisoners- not Tony.

Tony didn't do  _anything._

"Oh man." Clint groaned, banging his head against the wall while Natasha said nothing.

"Looks like he didn't do anything after all." Steve muttered, and Fury stiffened, before sighing and typing on the screen.

"Remove Tony Stark from the dangerous list- he's free from our watch." He grumbled into the phone, a slight pause before a muffled voice said ,  _'Sir?'_

"Just do it." He grumbled, slamming the phone down while Thor watched with a saddened look.

"…He still tazered me." Natasha sniffed, and turned, walking out while leaving no room for explanation.

x-(X)-x

"According to this, after you went all kamikaze on them, they headed…south. Texas." Tony blinked, and Loki looked up, a slight amount of confusion on his face.

"'Kamikaze'?"

"Eh, don't worry about it. They're south, near the border of Mexico and the U.S. In some place called 'Big Bend National Pa-' Oh they're just being asses for doing that." Tony scowled while Loki had a look of faint amusement.

" They have hidden their base of operations in a national monument?"

"Asses." Tony repeated, looking through the information again. Loki rolled his eyes, twirling his fingers as a small green snake coiled between, almost playfully as it curled between the digits.

"See- I don't get that." Tony scowled, spinning and pointing one finger accusingly at the snake, which paused to look at him, flicking his tongue and tilting its head slightly.

"…This is a  _snake._  It is a reptile, and moves by-"

"No." Tony snapped, before huffing and narrowing his eyes, accusingly.

"You're magic. You said you don't have any, so how did you make Mr. Boa here?" Tony sniffed, and Loki's eyes lit up, something Tony had noticed whenever he had a change to explain Magic.

Something that was eerily familiar between them.

"Magic is a part of me, just as your heart is a part of you. Magic constantly replenishes itself, only stopping if it has none left to replenish itself with. The small amount those  _osnotr_ stored, was enough for my seidr to replenish itself." Loki spoke, a phantom smile on his lips as the snake continued to search.

Tony hummed, pulling up a new window and quickly searching what the heck a 'osnotr' was.

He snorted loudly, causing Loki to look over, but shrugged him off. Looking at related words.

_Osnotr: Old Norse Insult used to degrade someone. Common translation is 'Fool' or 'Unwise.'_

Of course, in Tony's mind, which meant Loki just called everyone idiots.

"Huh, looks like there are still words that translate over. You just called them idiots, right?" Tony asked, looking at Loki who lifted an eyebrow and gave a slightly muffled snort.

"Correct I called those mortals…idiots."

Somehow, Tony didn't believe him.

"What is your race's translation of  _fa'r."_  Loki asked, voice slipping into the odd angelic tone.

Tony typed, searching it and his eyebrows shot upwards.

"Uhh….did you say 'malice.'" He blinked, and Loki frowned.

"No. I stated  _Mischief._  You mortals have a poor understanding of my language- You  _kӱr."_ Loki scoffed, turning and vanishing the snake with one snap of his fingers.

Tony couldn't help but try and translate it.

"Loki?" Tony asked, the green-eyed god turned, looking at him patiently.

"I am  _not_  a  _cow."_

Loki's high pitch chimes of laughter were the only response Tony got.

x-(X)-x

It was a few days later when Loki finally couldn't take it. It had been sly glances, morphing into long breaks of staring, in which Tony only looked away once he met eyes with Loki, and continued to work on whatever files or machinery he was fiddling with.

He didn't look up once he managed to feel Tony's gaze, and instead turned the page in the thick tome he had magically summoned from  _who knows where,_  and started reading again, voice breaking the silence.

"I do not need to look up to feel your gaze upon me, Stark." He noted, and he sensed Tony look away quickly, probably in embarrassment at having been caught again.

"Well, I think it may just be me, but I find that kinda' disturbing. Can you see behind you too?"

Loki snorted softly, grabbing a creased leather bookmark and gently sliding it into the bounded tome, it vanishing to where Loki could retrieve it at a moment's notice before crossing his hands regally on his knee and looking at Tony with a single arched eyebrow.

Tony, seeing this as a sign to talk, eagerly sat forward, flicking the holograms away to where he could pull them up later, and instead smirked, awaiting conversation or witty remarks.

"The ability to see behind myself would be well wasted when I am able to sense everything around me." Loki stated, and the corners of Tony's eyes crinkled as he grinned.

"Oh? Like echolocation? You part Flipper or something?" He grinned again, and Loki frowned at the reference, mentally scowling at how his outdated information of Midgard was affecting him.

" I am sad to say that I do not understand the reference you speak of."

"Don't worry about it." Tony drawled, lazily waving his hand with a grin as Loki scowled, and they fell into comfortable silence.

It was comfortable for a while, eventually Loki turned, looking out of the window and up at the stars which were slightly dimed in the sky from the cities slight (it was Canada, after all) pollution.

"Are they the same?" Tony asked, rising from the couch to approach Loki, who did not turn. He easily understood the question, and did not need it rephrased in any way or form.

"The oddities of the location disorientates my mind's eye, however, the planets and realms are the same, just in different locations." Loki nodded, and Tony sat next to him, lights automatically dimming behind them, while Loki waved a hand, stars brightening to a noticeable extent.

"What did you do?" Tony asked, and Loki blinked slyly, eyes not leaving the stars.

"I parted the pollution your realm manages to secrete. It will mist over eventually, but not till the morning yet."

Tony gave a bobbing nod, and Loki said nothing, still looking up, and Tony shifted awkwardly, and restlessly, doing nothing but waiting…

"…Up along the constellation you mortals call the 'Big Dipper' the star that shines the greatest upon your skies is Alvheim, the land of the elves. To the west, along the crest of the constellation known as 'Pegasus' is Vanaheim, the realm of the Vanir." Loki nodded, tracing his hands across the stars, in which a misty red line trailed.

"What? Really?" Tony blinked, and Loki's lips curled slightly amusedly as he scanned the horizon again.

"There sits Svartalviem, the lands of the dwarves and the dark elves live. The metal there is preciously used by the master dwarves, I believe once a chunk fell to Midgard. And the remnants of that are in your precious Captains Shield." Loki nodded, and Tony's jaw dropped.

"Wait- you could just…magic, your way over to Svartal-whatever and grab a chunk of Vibranium  _off the ground?"_ He asked, and Loki scowled, a slightly look of disgust.

"Indeed I could, however, I never shall." Loki hissed out, teeth clamped together while Tony lifted one eyebrow.

"Ooh, touchy. Bad subject?" Tony winced, and Loki's fist curled slightly.

"Indeed. My brief encounter with the dwarves were…less then admirable. The dark Elves are more… _envious_ , of my journeys and of Asgard as their realm is mostly toxic due to the misuse and crude replication of the dwarves own metal smithing talents." Loki growled, and Tony lifted an eyebrow.

"Really? You seem kinda' jealous of these elf things…"

"Me?" Loki snorted, looking at Tony vaguely amused. "As if they could create anything better then I. Or even without my own hand, I guide those to build what I so desire." Loki scoffed, and Tony lifted one eyebrow.

"Somehow, I don't believe you." Tony snorted, and Loki shot him a vaguely annoyed look.

"I've created many great artifacts, Stark. I managed to employ two dwarves, Brokk and Sindri-"

"'Employ' or trick?" Tony cut him off, and Loki's mouth twitched slightly, into the beginnings of a grin before he looked away.

"Does it matter? They built for me my-  _Odin's_  staff, Gungnir, Frigga's ring Duapner, and Skidblander a naval vessel, whose skill is still unmatched in the seas of Asgard today." Loki noted, and Tony's eyebrows lifted.

"Maybe so, but you didn't take  _part_  in it." Tony pointed out, causing Loki to huff.

"Oh? Does my contact count? I took part in the building of Mjolnir, although the dwarves were not happy with my bet. When they found out I interf-" Loki shut his jaw with a sharp click, while Tony's eyes widened.

"Wait! Mjolnir! As in that giant freaking hammer Thor has?" He asked, and Loki said nothing, looking out the window.

"Okay, fine. You gave Thor his hammer, but weren't those little hobbit people upset you tricked them or something?" Tony blinked, and Loki said nothing, leaning forward on his knees and leaning his hands on his chin, fingers gently tracing his lips.

"…That is not important." Loki stated coldly, and Tony blinked, slightly upset.

"Not important? Hell it is. What the hell did they do to you-"

"I'm supposed to destroy all of Yggrasdil. Destroy all of the realms, Midgard included." Loki bluntly stated, and Tony blinked, surprised by the sudden proclamation.

"…Um, you're little stunt with the glow stick of destiny didn't exactly work out, Lok's…" Tony awkwardly stated, and Loki blinked slightly, a slight frown on his face.

"…The glowing stick of  _what?"_  He stated, rather baffled while Tony just blinked, staring at his  _green_  eyes and let out a low breath.

"Loki…what did I call you when we were in Germany?" He spoke lowly, and this time Loki scoffed, turning his head away with a huff.

"I refuse to answer your petty questions-"

"Damn it Loki! Answer the question!" Tony practically shouted, Loki's head snapping around and looking at Tony in surprise.

"…I do not remember." He spoke after a short while, and this time Tony gave a small grim smile.

"And you, being the insanely old dinosaur you are, have an amazing memory. So  _why_  is it you don't remember what I called you in Germany?"

Loki said nothing, instead just looked up at the stars, and let out a low soft breath.

"Do you know how I gained the title, Liesmith?" Loki asked after an odd silence, and Tony looked at him, mouth open to complain at how he had changed the topic  _again._

"The Norns, or fates of Asgard, the three sisters. Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. They hold the gift of sight, and use it to show the Allfather the destinies of oncoming warriors, or title young Asgardians as gods." Loki mused, and Tony blinked, slightly interested, but still slightly annoyed.

"Loki-"

"I was crafted Liesmith, as titled by the Norns. I can feel lies, Stark. I can feel every lie ever told and feel it when one is dishonest with me. Do you know how much of a curse that is?" Loki sighed, voice slightly strangled as he looked at Tony, eyes dilated and slightly desperate, seeking something.

"Loki-" Tony swallowed, a thick lump in his throat.

"Silvertongue- Sly One, Shape-changer, Sky walker, trickster, Sky traveler, deceitful one. All titles made for me by those jealous or fearful." Loki spat bitterly, and Tony tried to talk again, only to be cut off.

"They thought I spoke only lies. They wished for only lies, but how could I lie when I feel them all around me? I twist the truth, Stark. I twist words until the name Silvertongue fits better then my own, and  _then_  the Norns curse me, for what use is speaking only the truth if none ever stop to  _listen?"_  Loki hissed, and Tony swallowed, looking out to the stars again.

"…For all that it's worth, I'll listen. Sure, I can't help you with the lying problem, but I won't judge you." Tony shrugged, and Loki paused for a moment.

"…I fear I cannot trust you, Tony Stark." Loki stated calmly, and Tony sighed, looking out the window and at the starry Canadian sky.

"…How about I tell you about Ear-Midgard. That okay?" Tony asked, wincing at his only preposition.

Loki threw his head back and  _laughed,_  causing Tony to stare in confusion.

"Mortal, I'm Sky Traveler. I have traveled among the realms more than any Asgardian in existence. I've traveled Midgard more then you may ever understand. Whom was it who blessed this land with the gift of horses? Whom taught your prophets of the sly whispering snake, in the garden or knowledge? Whom was it, who conversed with one of your realms greatest writers- 'to be or not to be.'?" Loki recited with a small grim smile.

Tony stared, jaw opening before closing and he swallowed, and Loki looked at him, slightly amused.

"…You met with Shakespeare? Really? I made a jab against Thor with Shakespeare!" Tony protested.

"Intelligent company. As for Thor, I'd doubt if he knew the Midgardians worshiped us long ago- of course, a silly child noticed me when I appeared from the branches of Yggdrasil, the next moment this world knows of Asgard." Loki sniffed, and Tony stared, blinking before grinning a few times.

"Does that mean that Sleipnir was actually born?" He mused, and Loki's face turned pale.

"It did! It actually hap-"

" _That never happened."_

 


	15. Chapter 15

They were flying out towards the state park where Jarvis had tracked down a running base. Tony wasn't nervous about being in the air- something, which briefly concerned him before he didn't care, and instead tried to keep his annoyance under control.

Mostly because Loki wouldn't stop  _looking at him._

It was a stupid thing, but he'd occasionally catch stray glances, then a few long seconds of intense staring at his facial features. He'd look away when Tony looked at him, but then would resume the aggravating action.

"What?" He finally snapped, capturing the acidic green eyes with his own, brows furrowed in annoyance as Loki's face was cautiously blank.

"I do not understand your question, Stark. Perhaps thinking about what your mouth will say previously will help." Loki hummed, and a small swell of frustration had Tony huffing.

"Yeah, real funny. Now, why are you staring at me- not that it's bad or anything. But normally, its women who can't keep their eyes off of me." Tony smirked, and Loki rolled his eyes, not in his usual playful way (It disturbed Tony slightly that he had come to known Loki and his moods by the time it took to roll his eyes…) but in a serious way. It drastically contradicted his normal trickster self, and caused Tony to be on alarm at once.

"I am staring at you, because you are wrong." Loki spoke, voice slightly chilly with the serious tone, causing Tony to wish much more for his light Norse accent.

"Uh, excuse me but I didn't give an answer." Tony added, looking at Loki quizzically while said god shook his head a minuscule amount.

"Anthony-"

"Tony." Tony quickly corrected, and Loki's eyes narrowed slightly more, lips tight as he waited patiently to say something.

"…As for what's wrong,  _you_ are."

Tony paused, frowning as his mind raced with endless possibilities as for what he could possibly mean.

"Your emotions. The day previously, you had the emotions of a normal human, more in the category of humor if anything." Loki's nose crinkled, as if he smelt something off, causing Tony to frown and lean forward on his seat.

"Okay, so I'm a comedian, what's wrong with that?"

"Stark." Loki spoke, voice slightly lower while his face was expressionless, "I am a shape shifter, Stark. An ability that comes with the Seidr is the gift of empathy." Loki scowled, and Tony paused, thinking it over.

_Oh…_

"It means, I can sense the emotions of those around me. I don't normally use this gift, tending to…avoid it when in contact with mortals; however… _yours_  are…mutilated." Loki sniffed, and Tony paused, eyebrow rising at the word choice.

"Oh? Mutilated? Makes me feel like some butcher is chopping up my little… halo of goodness." Tony snorted, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"Oh, speak of no saints here, Stark." Loki drawled, and Tony cracked a grin, and Loki's eyes narrowed again.

"My point. Previously your emotions would find that amusing, now they are…muffled. Dulled by something else, that is not normal, Stark. Something is tearing at what you mortals call…your  _'humanity'"_  Loki quoted, and a small icy feeling of coldness, causing Tony to temporarily feel…numb.

Empty almost, like there was nothing left but a hollow shell…

"…Yeah, well your magic mojo isn't accurate." Tony weakly managed to add, putting on a confident smirk while Loki said nothing, his face relaxed and betraying no emotion what so ever.

"I am an empath, Stark. I can influence the emotions of those around me, and I can feel the emotions of those around me. Your wrong, Anthony." Loki quietly said, and Tony paused, feeling as if he was almost choking.

"Then-" Tony started, but paused, finding no further reason to lie.

"I can influence the emotions of those around me-  _if_  they have any emotion to influence." Loki added, giving a small sad smile. "There is nothing I can do. I'm sorry Anthony."

Tony paused, looking at his hands in shock. Nothing? At all?

"But there is one thing." Loki added after a pause, causing Tony to look up sharply, and Loki shifted in his seat, rubbing his arm in a sure sign of unease, and oddly human way of showing it too.

"…What? You can't fix them; you can't make them come back." Tony managed to snap, the icy feeling lessoning slightly.

"No, I can't." Loki stated voice emotionless again.  _'He's mirroring me, what's inside of me.'_

"But there is one thing I can teach you…If you can't feel emotions, that doesn't mean that others can't." Loki added, Tony looking at him in confusion.

"Other human's aren't empaths, Lok's."

"No, you mortals are  _affectionate._ " He offered a dry smile. "Every touch, every hug or slight rush of an arm sends emotions through you. If you feel nothing, you affect the others who require your affection to create their emotions. What you can do…" Loki paused, and Tony leaned in to listen.

"Is to fake it."

x-(X)-x

Mexico, Texas, Tony didn't really know where they were. He didn't really care, except for the fact that they were walking through boiling heat, him being in a metal sweat suit while Loki practically bouncing with each step he took.

Tony scowled, mentally grumbling to himself as he moved again, resisting the tickling feeling of his sweat dripping below the neckline of the suit.

"You seem agitated." Loki hummed, halting his near prancing walk to slow his pace to Tony's own.

"Ya' think? We're walking around in the boiling heat of who knows were. This could be Death Valley for all I know!" Tony fumed, and Loki only gave him his signature cat-like blink.

"…You mortals named a landform 'Death Valley'?" Loki asked, lifting one eyebrow while Tony scowled, stomping ahead.

"Fine! Just lead the way in this godforsaken desert!" Tony shouted, and Loki paused, musing something quietly.

"…You mortals are idiotic. Who in the name of Valhalla would want to live  _here?"_  Loki scowled, eyes drifting to a particularly spiky cactus.

"True, people here had a funky religion. Apparently, they settled here because they saw a hawk sitting on one of those spiky devils eating a snake." Tony snorted, and Loki stopped, a gleam in his eye as he slowly turned to Tony.

"…A hawk, you say?" Loki mused, voice low as he eyed Tony up and down, who immediately felt as if something bad was going to happen.

"Uh- yeah…but I don't know much. They make good chili, and  _nobody_  can beat Mexican Coke- the pop." Tony clarified, while Loki just grinned his Cheshire cat grin.

"I see….tell me, Anthony. You mortals have found certain…quests, of ours. Have you ever heard the name 'Thiazi'?" Loki hummed, and Tony paused, activating Jarvis while dreading it.

_"Sir, Thiazi was the name of the Jotun in Norse Mythology who kidnapped the goddess Idunn."_

"Okay, so a Frost Giant? What's the big deal?" Tony blinked, and Loki chuckled slightly.

"Oh, Anthony. Thiazi held the gift as of I, or a skin-changer." Loki mused, and Tony paused, swallowing.

"Okay, so he could shape shift-"

"Into a giant bird." Loki ended, and Tony paused, thinking before stiffening and backing away.

" _Oh_  no. I am  _not_  being carried away by a freaking  _crow-"_

"A hawk, actually. After all, who was it that caught Thaizi in his own skin?" Loki laughed, snapping his fingers and suddenly, Tony's skin hit the sun.

"Wha-  _where is my suit?"_  Tony yelped, and Loki shrugged.

"A pocket of reality- hold still." Loki warned, twisting  _impossibly._

The next sound were large cracks, like a giant Chuck Norris sized fist cracking while Loki's form blurrier, but was still detailed enough for Tony to see white bone, and suddenly an eye the size of a grapefruit and the oddest mixture of green, gold and an olive green staring at Tony with obvious intelligence.

"Shit!" Tony yelped, stumbling back and onto his backside as he tripped on a rock. A few more snaps and with a gust of wind, large black tipped primary feathers sliced through the air with a whistling noise, dark brown secondary feathers blocked the sun.

He gasped, inching a little more back and instantly wishing for his suit more than ever as the large avian head reared back and cried with a bird-screech, causing Tony to wince at the loud noise.

He gasped, looking at the white feathered breast and the angled heads, the sharp black talons and the careful array of colours set upon every feather.

In a way, this still  _was_ Loki.

"Shit- I…" Tony paused, shaking his head in disbelief, feeling a slight feeling of awe-  _very_  slight.

_"Well, isn't this amusing?"_

Tony flinched, looking at Loki in now stupefied fascination.

_"Yes, I can speak. Do you really think I'd leave you to interpret my words? You'd compare me to a badger then say I married a lamppost without my own tongue to properly correct your interpretations."_

Tony scowled at the insult before standing, and hesitantly touching one of the six-inch feathers, brushing his hand through it.

"Wow." Tony breathed, and he felt the large bird shift.

 _"Wow, indeed."_ Tony heard Loki's mental voice echo quietly, before the beak and eyes snapped to the right.

_"We must continue. I sense my Seidr to the west. Now, you may not understand, but there is a slight issue with this form."_

"What? Can't I just pull a 'The Hobbit' and hop on your back?" Tony blinked, confused while Loki mirrored it in his own eyes.

_"The 'Hobbit?' Tolkein, if I remember correctly. That fool, he asked about Svartalheim, and I answered! I should have told him about the Vanir! Not of Alfheim or of Nidhoggr!"_

"Wait- that dragon Smog was named after a  _real_ dragon?" Tony squeeked, and Loki looked at him in confusion.

_"What? No, the name Smog? That is preposterous. I am talking about Nidhoggr."_

"Just…never mind." Tony groaned, and he looked at Loki, slightly tired. "What was the issue?"

_"This."_

Giant black talons wrapped around his torso, breath leaving him with a loud  _whoosh!_  An echo followed as suddenly, Tony was in the air and struggling against the large scaly leg.

"Hey! Let go of me! Put me down!" He shouted, struggling while the other foot tensed in annoyance.

_"Think Stark. If I let you go, you will be nothing more than a smashed bug. Now, quit struggling, if you're going to be of any use, look for the base."_

"Aren't birds supposed to have great eyesight?" Tony muttered under his breath.

_"And excellent hearing, but who am I to say that?"_

Tony glared at the scaly leg, half tempted to try to bite it, before the dizzying sight of brown and grey ground flashing below them caused him to look at the white breast feathers just to fight off the nausea.

Eventually, even the calm  _fwoosh….fwoosh,_  of the large wings caused Tony to relax entirely, making travel much easier.

He would never admit it, ever. He did  _not_ fall asleep.

_"There. Wake up you fool."_

"I'm awake." Tony grunted, and sure enough, a large metallic splotch was noticeable on the ground far below, stretching out maybe a mile in all directions, a ugly blemish in the boiling heat.

"Can they see us? We're right over them." Tony shouted, and Loki craned his neck, the hooked beak just visible from Tony's line of sight.

_"They shouldn't. The mortal eyesight you have will make us look like a stray bird, no reason for warning."_

"See any weakness'?" Tony winced, Loki turned, flapping furiously to hover in an area, the air stinging Tony's eyes.

_"The fortress is protected by multiple walls fit with twisted metal spires. They use canines on the inside between layers. There is neither escape nor entrance on foot. The roofing of these bases are weak, however my Seidr is low, below the earth."_

"So we break through the roof, that's easy. Let me down and I'll blast them to the Gulf of Mexico." Tony growled, and the talon tightened, causing him to exhale breathlessly.

_"No. I have a better idea."_

Tony didn't need to see Loki to know his eyes were narrowing.

_"This is all an illusion- you will not feel it, nor will it harm you. Only those against us. Hang on, and hold your breath."_

"Wha-" Tony started, eyes widening as he saw Loki lean, twisting and suddenly, diving forward, wrapping his wings close and tucking Tony close to his stomach, feathers tickling Tony's arms.

Tony couldn't shout- the sudden rush of air was making him dizzy as it forced its way into his lungs without him actually breathing, his eyes watered and suddenly-  _fire._

Through the dizzy spiral and the gagging feeling of air forcing its way into his lungs, the near blindness and intense heat, the only thought he could completely form in his dazed mind was  _'Great, he's a freaking Phoenix too.'_

Then, they crashed through the roof, plaster and wood groaning, dust flying into the air as Loki gave off a threatening shriek, Tony gasping as two of the toes holding him released, leaving him clinging to the foot as it awkwardly stood, the other foot cracking the concrete as Loki flared his wings. Tony saw long strands of orange flame licking at the walls before catching and spreading, sparking and occasionally shifting to an emerald green.

_"Stark? You are aware, I presume."_

"Yeah- what…what the hell was  _that?"_  Tony choked, and a bird neck twisted, ducking under it's wings to look at Tony nearly in the eye.

_"My shape shifting is not of Seidr. As for the flames, they were one of my very first spells. I am using only small amounts of magic until my reserve has been restored. After this quest, I shall have regained enough to be of any…proper, use."_

"Proper use? You kidding me? You just smashed through the roof- maybe even a floor-"

 _"Two floors, actually."_  Loki answered, a little smug as he gently set down Tony taking a few hops away as the bones shifted painful sounding, and suddenly, there he was, dressed in black, gold, green and with that ridiculous horned helmet.

He made his way up onto his feet, legs slightly shaky, but otherwise, fine. Loki snapped his fingers, and then the cool metal was covering his body once more.

"God, you've  _got to_ teach me how to do that." Tony grinned. And Loki turned, hand drifting towards his one pocket as the door was suddenly opened, men in hazmat suits and long electric staffs. He held a gun in the other hand, and before Tony could even lift his hand to fire a blast, the man choked, and was on the ground. A long thin knife wedged firmly in his throat.

"What the heck?" Tony asked, looking to Loki, who was twirling a knife in his hands. He walked to the new corpse and yanked the blade out, slipping it into his sleeve.

"I keep extras of my weapons at my disposal. Even without magic, I am not defenseless." Loki sniffed, walking out with Tony loudly clunking after.

"So, Jarvis hacked this place, I know the main areas and lifts. Think you can find your magic beans?" Tony asked, and Loki opened his fist, green flames gathering from the wall to the right.

"Yes. I can track them."

His fist closed, fire vanishing.

Somewhere below, a large roar sounded.

 


	16. Chapter 16

Magic, in some sense and form, was the same principle to a degree as certain laws of energy.

No magic was ever wasted. Magic interacted with its environment, eventually filtering its way through whatever enchantment it was placed on until it returned into the air and the earth, allowing a magic wielder to use it once more.

It was similar to the mass of the Earth, when a volcano had erupted, it always spurred the childlike imagination that the lava and magma was created  _there,_  and didn't belong to the Earth itself through some long complicated system involving shifting tectonic plates. No mass of the Earth ever  _vanished,_  nor did it just spontaneously  _appear._

There was  _always_  a certain amount of magic, what changed was the storage and the dominance over said magic.

An inexperience seidr wielder would not be able to feel the smaller strands of magic or energy in the air. Instead, they could only use the larger pools of energy found in direct powerful attacks, or which his or her body naturally absorbed and stored over a long period of time.

It was simple once you were able to make your mind grasp it.

 _Then,_  it got complicated.

Seidr wasn't tamable. It wasn't a noble tool that could be used and discarded as much or as often as the user pleased. The older the mage had used magic, the more the magic had used  _him._ Bonding to his or her core until the entity of magic had a signature, a complete consciousness that was tied to the user's emotions and unknowing telepathic connection. Magic became  _personified,_  following the traits of its master like a child. Eventually, the magic grew and matured, knowing what the wielder would do not even before he or she spoke the words. Magic and thought became  _one,_  and thoughts became reality.

Loki, through years of experiments and self-taught skills understood this concept well, and was not at any time concerned by the way his magic moved on its own, how his summoned flames rose and fell with his anger.

It was only logical that magic could be upset.

"What the hell was that?" Tony shouted, leaning against the wall as the loud roar eventually died down, the metal walls vibrating until not a single tremor was left.

Loki stood, staring into the darkness, and with a small twitch of his hand, he continued down the corridor, ignoring the broken lights and the bodies draining blood onto the floor.

" _That_  is seidr, wild and untamed and growing…" Loki murmured voice calm and slightly distant as suddenly his entire body structure tensed, and he walked forward like a ready panther.

"Okay, this seems  _eerily_  familiar." Tony snorted, boots echoing loudly as he walked by Loki, screen scanning the ground and cracks for any hiding stranglers.

"Indeed. I feel my magic below us still." Loki stated, green eyes almost glowing in the darkness, each light flickering off as they walk past.

"Jarvis?"

_"Mr. Laufeyson is correct, Sir. My sensors indicate you are on floor three. The energy fluctuations are due North West of you and four floors down. There is an elevator to your immediate left corridor."_

"Thanks Jar, Lok's. Left there's an elevator." Tony nodded, Loki turning with a nod and approaching the elevator, eyes scanning.

_"Sir, men approaching 360 degrees behind approaching fast. Heat signature recognized four, one armed with an EMP blast reactor."_

"EMP? Crap, Loki we have some company." Tony growled, spinning around and firing off a repulsor blast at the heat map outline of the four.

 _ZzzzzaSHCp!_ In addition, some sort of electric whip sliced at the repulsor blast, redirecting it as something was shot out again.

He heard a muffled shriek as the whip slashed painfully into Loki's left leg, Tony pivoted, throwing his weight forward and slammed into the man, grabbing the whip and crushing the central command for the electricity.

Once the electricity had been shut off, Loki had appeared, slashing and spitting like a deranged cat, getting dangerously close with the sharp throwing daggers, finishing off the last man before he could even shout, allowing him to fall to the floor in a gurgle.

"You okay there Lok's?" Tony asked, eyeing the burnt and apparently, (By Jarvis' scanners) burnt skin of his calf.

Loki paused, looking up and looked at Tony with a blink and a frown.

"Stark, you just witnessed a mass murder of four possible civilians." Loki stated dryly, and Tony stiffened, lifting the metallic boot out of the growing pile of blood.

His blood chilled, and he swallowed thickly. He took a few steps away, trying not to look at the bloody trail he was bringing with him, nor the way Jarvis was automatically analyzing it.

"Let's continue." Loki stated, and Tony swallowed, turning towards the elevators without another word, looking at the jammed doors.

Loki approached then, hand running down the metal cover as he looked at the separation between the two sheets.

"Beyond this is a chasm, am I correct?" Loki asked, and Tony looked up, blinking as Jarvis analyzed the door.

"Yeah, simple aluminum, I can just tear it off for you. It should lead to a shaft that goes all the way down."

"…Tear it off, you say?" Loki asked, slightly doubting but nonetheless, stepped up and dug his nails hard into the aluminum.

"No- I got tha-" Tony jumped forward, but instead, the metal groaned, shifting while Loki rolled his eyes, muscles tensing as suddenly, Tony had to duck to avoid the flying metal chunks.

Loki peered over the edge, looking into the darkness of the elevator shaft, the emergency red lights on the sides were too far down to successfully see anything, and the sides were too narrow for any form of winged avian transportation.

"Too far for a godly fall?" Tony asked, and Loki rolled his eyes, turning and moving back to the bloody corpses, wounds still weeping as he plucked one of the electric weapons off their belt.

He looked at it with a scowl while Tony flicked his faceplate up, the colder air of the facility hitting his cheeks, and finally mixing with the air.

"You mortals make the oddest weaponry." Loki scoffed, holding the taser with two fingers, as if it would jump up and attack him.

"Says the man who uses  _throwing knives._ " Tony stressed, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"Those are completely fine, and are important to Midgard history. However,  _this_  is not." With that, he hit the activation, tossing it into the hole and watching sparks fly every time it slammed into a side.

Tony let out a whistle as it continued to fall; eventually a dull thud greeted them back.

_"Sir, I roughly calculate the distance 652 feet, Sir. That is lethal distance for a fall, I am not sure that Mr. Laufeyson will sustain damage."_

"Too far for you to fall?" Tony asked, and Loki's eyes grew a shade darker, lips twitching.

"…I do not have pleasant memories of free-falling. Perhaps there are another form of descent, stairs perhaps?" Loki asked, turning around.

"Hey! You! Get them!" Tony turned, noticing even more of the group's lackeys turning around the corner and running towards them, long electric whips and tasers out.

"No time." He grunted, faceplate sliding down, he wrapped one arm awkwardly around Loki and jumped down the chute, one arm grabbing onto the side while sparks lit up their descent.

"Of sweet Odin!" Loki cursed, gripping Tony's arm tightly enough that the metal groaned, forming small dents.

"Hey, loosen up." Tony grunted, eyes calculating the bottom and the top of the elevator box.

"I'll relax my grip when you decide to use the petty organ you mortals call a brain!" Loki screeched like a cat, the metal buckling under his surprising strength.

_"Sir, the landing is within 50 feet. Foot repulsors activated."_

Loki jerked as suddenly their momentum reversed, Tony slamming into the elevator top, bending the metal while he hissed in pain as the metal covering his arms bent inward, probably leaving a bruise.

"Loki! You can let go now!" Tony grunted under the surprising weight of the God. Loki hissed, letting go of Tony and slamming his feet onto the elevator box, the metal shell groaning and the thick cables swinging lazily in the shoot.

"Are you  _insane?_ " Loki hissed, eyes almost glowing in the darkness of the shaft. Before Tony could respond, Loki turned on his heels, leather flapping in the sudden movement as he slammed his fist into the door. He hunched slightly, muscles straining as he slowly pulled them apart like a child playing with tin foil.

They clattered to the ground, Tony having to slip through sideways to avoid the sharp ripped edges while Loki stalked through, eyes flickering over the red-lit hallway, blinking as the bright EXIT signs casted horrific glares.

"You know, for a top secret evil base, I expected more people." Tony hummed, and Loki looked around, eyes flickering as he slowly moved.

"This was as the other. It takes little time to remove their drones from their positions. If my logic is correct, which it normally is-"

"And you say  _I_ have an ego." Tony muttered, Loki ignoring him and continuing.

"They  _should_  be attacking the greater threat at the moment." Loki nodded, flashing a dagger out as something moved in the corner of his eye.

"A greater threat? What's a bigger threat then us?" Tony asked, and Loki spun, digging a dagger in some security drone's throat, the gurgling telling them that the hit was effective.

"What's a greater threat you say? I believe that the answer is right in front of you." Loki hummed, eyes scanning the darkness while Tony fired a repulse, casting a low blue light.

"Stop speaking all confusing-like, I'm a genius, not a freaking philosopher." Tony huffed and Loki arched one eyebrow, the two making slow footsteps.

"Oh? You mean you do not puzzle yourself over the importance of life. The greater being?" Loki's lips twitched in amusement, "The chicken and the egg?"

"Really?" Tony asked, slightly exasperated before shaking his head, "First, I'm alive.  _How_  I got here, I don't care. Second, I'm atheist so I don't really bother myself with that. Third- the chicken. It's  _always,_ the chicken." Tony smirked, and Loki rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his amused smile.

Then, the ground started vibrating slightly, nails and bolts rattling in the ceiling as the vibration slowly turned itself into a low groaning growl, or some form of a moan.

"Wait." Loki paused, crouching and pressing two fingers to the ground while Tony snapped his neck around, scanning for the unseen monster.

_"All units, please report to Sector 9B, I repeat, all units report to Sector 9B."_

"Shit!" Tony hissed, and Loki opened his eyes, gaze drawn to further down the dark corridor.

"I assure you, Stark. You have nothing to fear at this point of time. The mortals are gathering further ahead where my monster has summoned its power. We should continue ahead." Loki added, starting to walk.

"Wait,  _your_  monster? That  _thing_  is yours?" Tony hissed, and Loki turned his neck, one eye glowing as he looked at Tony behind him.

"That creature is of no harm to us that is all that concerns you. The matters and abilities of magic are neither unknown nor understandable by any mortals, even one as advanced as you."

"Except for these guys." Tony added, and Loki paused in his advancement, drawing still in his walking. Tony approached, flipping his faceplate up so his one voice could be heard.

"That's why you decided to ally yourself with me, revenge against SCORP eh? Want to cover your trail so we pesky mortals can't  _dare_ contain you here on our petty little planet?" Tony asked dryly, a small temper rising as he continued on with his tiny rant.

"…You know not of what you speak, Stark." Loki spoke, voice quieter than usual, but Tony ignored it, nostrils flaring as he moved towards the reflective golden horns.

"I  _don't_ know? Oh, I know pretty well, what the hell you're feeling. You want to kill dirty little bastards who kidnapped you, am I right? I'm just a tool you can use to get back at them?" Tony asked, voice growing slightly louder.

"Stark-"

" _No._  You're going to just  _throw me away_  once you kill all of these guys?" Tony asked, and Loki hesitated, choosing his words wisely.

"Anthony, if I so desired, I could entrap this base with an inferno of flames. I could invert every mortal within a ten-mile radius so their skull was inside their brains. If I so  _desired_ ," Loki paused, looking at Tony hard, eyes staring right at his, "I could kill you. You should not tempt fate, nor test your luck, mortal."

Loki turned regally, and continued on his path.

Tony stared, mind repeating a very calm statement with almost a cheerful tone-  _'Oh! Okay then Lok's, I'm going to die! That's just sunshine and freakin' Daisy's, but that's okay, because as long as you kill me that's fine. Freaking fantastic.'_

Of course, Tony never said any of these things. He just kept his mouth shut and kept walking.

x-(X)-x

They had walked past countless dark empty looking rooms, his repulsors casting odd reflections on the various lab experiments beyond the glass. In one room, he was sure he saw a pickled cow. A full sized, pickled cow.

He didn't say anything of course, because mentioning a pickled cow to a god who wore cow horns just wasn't smart.

"It is beyond here we must be concerned." Loki stated, pausing in front of a large lab door, causing Tony to look at him in surprise.

"The energy of this base has been diverted to  _this_  room. I suspect they are attempting to take control of the fight, and are using all electricity they can. Of course,  _they_  don't know that we're here." Loki mused, and Tony paused, swallowing as he looked at the door, flicking the faceplate down.

"Well, to hell and back?" He asked, and Loki cracked a small chuckle.

"Oh, dear Anthony. I can put in a good word with my daughter if you'd prefer a seat in the afterlife among the grand feast. However, I have a feeling you'll rest in Valhalla instead." He chuckled; grabbing the door and yanking it open hard.

The light instantly caused Tony to blink, the suit adjusting automatically to filter the sudden increase. Loki wasn't so lucky, he recoiled back, retreating behind Tony for a small moment, blinking quickly while Tony quickly surveyed the situation, partially in disbelief, and partially in odd amusement.

It was similar to a SHIELD base, large, white and sickly pristine. Large cargo labels decorated the sides of several shipping boxes while forklifts and several other devices were nearby for transport.

A large sea of men and possible women dressed in the SCORP artillery were firing rapidly upon some sort of…thing.

"Lok's, what the  _hell_  is  _that?_ " He asked, trying to stay out of the thing's line of sight.

"That is our ally." Loki sighed exasperatedly, while Tony just stared at the large freak of nature.

It was big, that was probably one of its primary defenses against the onslaught against it. It was covered in a thick fleshy grey skin, but had the slight imprint of scales. It had six legs, four giant ones that worked like any Earthly animal would, and two smaller ones that looked like the ones spiders used to grab prey. The head was large and rather stunned looking, with a sloth-like sleepy expression that looked odd on the shark mouth and the thick unnecessary neck. The tail was thick and stocky, ending with an awkward stub with a few sharp thorns.

"Crap Lok's, if that's what your mind makes up, I don't  _ever_ want to give you to a therapist." He gasped, and Loki looked at him with a confused expression, yet also he snorted, probably resisting the urge to hit Tony.

The monster belched, gross purple slime exploding out and landing on the troops. They screamed, falling and shriveling as the acidic compound ate through their suits and flesh.

"Oh it has  _poison_ spit? Are you kidding me?" Tony asked Loki, who only shrugged, eyes locked on the monster.

"…I've made worse." He shrugged, before stepping out and doing a flip into the fray, causing more shouting from the troops as the beast took care of a few while they were distracted.

_"Sir, you have an incoming message from Dr. Banner."_

"What? How the hell did he figure out the number?" Tony asked, already blasting his way to the ground with repulsor blasts on the unsuspecting and disoriented opponent.

_"I believe he and Ms. Potts looked through your archives to find this number. Shall I accept?"_

"What? No! No this is an  _awful_ time!" Tony shouted, slamming a punch into a nearby lackey with a taser.

_"My apologize Sir, I am being overridden- access code 4F-91 accepted. Call feed activated."_

"No! Disconnect Jarvis!"

 _"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK!"_ He heard instantly, and flinched. It was an opportune moment for some lackey who managed to attempt to hit him over the head with his gun, although it did nothing, it was enough for Tony to look at the man in surprise for a few seconds before punching him in the gut and sending him into a wall.

"Hey Pep, this is a  _really_  bad moment- duck!" He shouted to Loki, who neatly flipped and avoided an electric whip.

_"…Is this a bad time?"_

"Pep, you  _always_ seem to call at the worse times. What do you need?" Tony grunted, upper cutting another lackey.

_"SHIELD cut off your credit cards. They don't have your bank accounts because of Jarvis, but they're working their way into everything. They've seized the Malibu home. Apparently, Dummy and Butterfingers have shut off the AI system there, so it's useless. Bruce and I also managed to track their locations somewhat, but it's really odd."_

"Yeah yeah." Tony agreed, not really knowing what he was agreeing to as he blasted a few more lackeys- they just kept coming.

_"Tony! Are you even listening to me?"_

"Yes! SHIELD cut off my credit cards or something." Tony added, and Pepper sighed.

_"They seized the Malibu home. Doesn't that make you upset? They could be destroying it!"_

"I have a defense system. You said Butterfingers and Dummy were still there." Tony added, and Pepper sighed.

_"I don't think two robots are going to do much. Do they know how to set up the weapon defense system?"_

"Pep's, have you ever  _seen_  Dummy with a fire extinguisher? He  _is_  the security system." Tony smirked, looking at the ring of defeated men around him.

_"Whatever Tony. Anyway, do you know why SHIELD is flying out to…Mexico?"_

"Wait- _Mexico?_ As in home of the Nacho's and Taco's?" Tony asked, stilling while Loki and his demon creation continued behind him.

_"The one and only. Some old national park along the border of Texas that counts as Mexico or something-"_

Tony didn't hear anymore.

_"-ny? Tony!"_

"I'll call you back Pep." Tony responded numbly, disconnecting and using his repulsors to fly up and land awkwardly on the creature, it didn't seem to really care.

"Loki!" Tony shouted and the god in question turned, holding two blood daggers in his hand.

"The others- SHIELD is on its way. They've found us." Tony stated, and Loki's eyes widened in surprise.

"We must finish here then." Loki nodded, turning to finish the last man and hurry along,

Then the large doors on the other side opened, and loud booming thuds echoed.

Tony turned, and his jaw dropped, it literally  _dropped._

"…Are you  _kidding me?"_  Tony almost shouted, and Loki turned, eyes widening in surprise at the monster in question.

"These things  _lived_  on  _Midgard?"_  He hissed, looking at the giant living and possibly robotic dinosaur.

"I thought SCORP was only working on those smaller raptors! I didn't know they had a freakin' Jurassic Park!" Tony shouted back, looking at the large thick reptilian beast as it turned, nostrils flaring as it tossed its head angrily.

"Fine." Loki snapped, walking past Tony and up the back of his own creation, sliding into the natural saddle between the creature's shoulder blades and taking two of the oddly placed horns in each hand.

"Are you  _seriously_  going to  _fight that thing?"_ Tony hissed and Loki looked over his shoulder, a small insane grin on his mouth.

"Be honest Stark. You are standing on a creature, about to rampage a Midgardian Lindworm inside of a Top Secret military base that could very well kill us both. The choice is, are you going to ignore this opportunity, or are you going to join me?" Loki asked, and Tony stared at the now roaring opponent. The option was clear.

Tony settled in behind Loki, looking at the glaring Tyrannosaurus Rex, slightly taller than Loki's own monster as it waved its puny little hands awkwardly.

"…Lets ram this thing. Mush! Giddy-yup!" Tony shouted, knocking his metal clad ankles into the sides of the creature.

"Of course-  _Atʅaga."_ He said, using the flowing obviously Asgardian language and his own beast snorted in response, roaring against the mighty dino's.

"You know, there was a show about this thing. Turns out, it can flip a car, and attack another beasty just like this called a Spinosaurus-"

_ROOOAAARRRR!_

"…I just jinxed us, didn't I?" Tony groaned, just as another door opened, this time instead of a lumbering creature, the Spinosaurus almost pranced out, long crocodile like head swiveling around while spit dripped down its chin, it blinking at the T-Rex lazily.

"…You are the most insufferable mortal I have ever met."

"Yeah." Tony agreed, eying the dino's while Loki's monster did the same, "I get that a lot actually."

"Hush! I'm trying to think!" Loki hissed, and the creature below him growled, gurgling acidic spit before sending a glob at the T-Rex, which stepped on it without any problems, ignoring the acid itself.

"…Okay, I see the problem." Tony admitted, and Loki growled, eyes flickering to the two monsters.

"….They both possess a small amount of my magic. Already I have gathered all within this base to create the creature we ride upon. Perhaps I could transfer it over to one then the other if necessary- but it could be corrupted, not to mention how the quartz would react with the potency of my magic-"

"English here!" Tony growled, and Loki scowled, eyes watching the T-Rex.

"When I say, distract the creature." Loki deadpanned, and Tony's gaze shifted between the two.

"Which one?" He asked, Loki pointed to the Spinosaurus, and Tony nodded, preparing himself.

"Now." Loki growled, and Tony shot off, the Spinosaurus hissing and charging him.

He faintly heard a large hissing and popping noise, the next thing he noticed when he had the chance to turn, was a large T-Rex slamming head on into the Spinosaurus, causing it to shriek in anger and fall onto its side. It turned, claws slashing while a nimble figure flipping from  _somewhere and landed_ on the dino- causing it to choke and splutter before drawing still.

Then, its eyes were  _green._

"Claim a steed." Loki growled, Tony blinking in outright  _awe._  Not only did he get to  _see_ a dinosaur, he got to  _ride_ one?

He might just kiss Loki once they were through with this.

He landed on the still T-Rex's and watched as the other slowly got to its feet, calm and casually making its way towards the main exit door, Loki blasting a way open now that his magic had been restored.

They walked along, Tony feeling oddly like some sort of twisted king upon a giant lizard.

He paused before laughing near hysterics, causing Loki to look at him in puzzlement.

Once he described the fact that the others would see them riding on two  _dinosaurs_  did Loki share his laughter.


	17. Chapter 17

_"Clint, do you see anything?"_

The Avengers had split between two Quinjets, using this as an advantage to find Tony (and Loki) faster than a standard single. In one jet were Natasha and Steve, in Clint's was he and Thor. It was cramped, and thankfully, Thor had refrained from touching any buttons since the last incident.

"Just smoke and tire tracks. Whoever was here sure got out quickly. I doubt even a few SHIELD bases could get out in that time." Clint noted, seeing the dessert sand crumpled into tracks, he paused, turning the jet once more as he saw a large unnatural hole in the roofing of one building.

"Wait, I see something. There's no reading on heat sig, I'm going down for a landing." Clint nodded, lowering the jet towards the hole while Thor looked at it with curiosity.

_"Be careful. If there was anything that would have made Loki team up with anyone, not to mention Tony, it must be dangerous."_

"I have Thor. I'll be fine." Clint smirked, disconnecting and flipping his bow into his arms as he walked out to where Thor was already examining the hole.

"Have an idea what it's from, big guy?"Clint asked, squatting next to the torn metal.

"Only possibilities, all of which do not match this." Thor frowned, and Clint noted the inwards turn of the impact.

"It was fast and large, not big enough for a jet though. It impacted centre, only one point. If I didn't know better, this could be a single missile, but there was mass on the sides." He noted, pointing to the metal.

"It could have been a drake." Thor hopefully pointed out while Clint stared.

"We don't have those on Earth, Thor." He sighed and Thor looked slightly baffled before looking at the hole again, "A large bird?"

Clint gave Thor a flat look. "I'll tell you what, buddy. If it is a giant bird, I'll give you any arrow you want from my quiver." He noted, Thor's face lighting up excitedly while he eyed one of Clint's arrows.

(Turns out, on Asgard they also used bows, Thor wasn't half bad, but seemed a little too eager to use the explosive ones.)

"Any arrow?" He asked hesitantly while Clint mentally snorted at 'giant bird'.

"If it's a giant bird, I'll give you five of the explosive ones." He offered, Thor returning a huge grin while Clint ducked his head to hide the fact he was trying hard not to laugh.

_"Clint? We have a situation."_

Clint's head snapped up, smile falling while his fingers flicked to the communication device in one ear.

"Talk to me." He spoke quickly back, Natasha firing off information.

_"South entrance by the doors those is similar to a warehouse. SHIELD was right with guessing this was a testing facility. It seems like one of- my mistake, two of their tests turned up positive."_

"What is it, Tasha? What are we facing?"

_"…Clint, were you ever a fan of Barney, the dinosaur?"_

x-(X)-x

"I think I'm going to call mine Tracey. That or Cindy, what do you think, Lok's?" Tony asked, amusedly looking over to Loki who was sitting on his steed backwards, back braced against the neck of the dinosaur while his eyes were closed, as if he were asleep.

"I care little for sentimental attachments to useless controlled beasts with little intelligence."

"…So Cindy, right?" Tony asked, looking at Loki, whose lips twitched slightly.

"….I prefer Tracey."

"Tracey it is." He nodded, patting the back of his T-rex, which rumbled lowly as they walked on.

They had made it maybe an eighth of a mile from the main building, easily able to run back with the Dinosaurs charging, when they heard the loud rocket noise.

They looked up, Loki's Spinosaur pulling its claws closer as it spat, giving a crocodilistic hiss while Tony's T-Rex roared loudly.

The Quinjet hovered in the air; Tony was able to make out Natasha's lips moving thanks to the magnification of his visor, she thankfully didn't go towards the weapon consol.

"It's Natasha. I think she's separated from Clint and Thor." Tony alerted, Loki's lips thinning while he scowled.

"Out of the duo, I am unsure of which's company I'd dread more." Loki drawled, causing Tony to roll his eyes.

"Aw, it can't be that bad. It's only Natasha, Thor, Steve and Clint. Here we have You, I, Tracey and Barney-"

"Mael." Loki corrected calmly, causing Tony to blink in confusion before spotting the almost  _humming_  Spinosaur.

"Uh, You, I, Tracey, and  _Mael."_  Tony corrected while Loki gave a small nudge to his beast, flipping so he was facing forward as his lizard smoothly approached the jet, turning as he stood, creating an imposing effect as he came eye level with Natasha, whose lips thinned.

He lifted one hand, showing her it obviously, before he snapped, even from a fair distance Tony could  _hear it._

 _"Now, I assume you can hear me properly?"_ He asked, mouth moving as his voice seemed to resonate throughout the air, almost as if by the wind.

Tony jumped slightly, his and Loki's dinosaur not reacting to the magic in anyway.

He briefly saw Natasha give a sharp nod, Steve walking into view, jumping in surprise at the large draconian head and Loki standing calmly upon it.

 _"Now then. Must I inform you of the status of the base behind us? Or will you not trust my word and comb it for survivors yourselves?"_ He asked calmly, Tony briefly managed to see Steve mouth 'Survivors' in question, probably in horror at the status of the few worker meant crumpled or disfigured in the rubble.

Tony nudged his dinosaur, causing it to walk with more lumber then Loki's, over to stand next to the Spinosaur, he popped the faceplate up, standing on even (breathing) ground while staring at the two looking at him.

The overcome on the jet sounded, and suddenly both Loki and Tony could hear a response.

_"I don't trust you. SHIELD with search the base for survivors, as is standard protocol."_

"There's no information in that base. Jarvis wiped it clean; the best thing you'll find is paper if it survived the fire." Tony spoke, hoping that Loki could magnify it, which he did logically.

_"We aren't looking for information, Stark. We are searching as in proto-"_

"To find information. That's  _part_  of the protocol. They're called SCORP. You won't find anything on them, I've tried." Tony spoke, turning as he heard a large metal  _Twapp!_

His dinosaur roared in anger, spinning and baring teeth angrily at a small shape in the distance, standing on the base an eighth of a mile away.

Tony looked down to see the issue, a long sleek shaft of an arrow buried in one of the dinosaur's claws.

"Calm." Loki spoke to the T-rex, which snorted angrily, flexing its little hands as it clawed the shaft out of its nails.

"If you don't mind, I believe we will be having a few words with your companion." Loki dismissed, the Spinosaurus calmly rotating, purposefully swinging its long dangerous tail close enough for Natasha to have to jerk the plane away.

Tony's T-rex started in a run, by his Suit's estimation, around 35 MPH as the wind roared angrily in his ears.

In no time, they were slowing from their intimidating rampaging dino run, to a lumbering walk that brought them right up to the base where Loki had originally smashed through the roof.

"Clint, could you stop that? Tracey doesn't like it." Tony shouted over the wind and the growling dinosaur.

All Clint did was hold his bow tighter.

"Tracey? I do not understand…" Thor started, but Clint clicked his teeth together. Thor's gaze drifted over to the other approaching dinosaur, who took leisure in the graceful walk as it approached, turning to reveal the target Clint had been waiting for.

"Brother." Thor spoke with a small smile, Loki's features hardened at once and his hands curled into tight fists as he icily responded, "I am  _not_  your brother." His reply was harsh enough that Thor took one step back while Loki turned, his dinosaur's tail smashing into the building, causing the ledge to tip and the two to stumble away, nearly plummeting to an agonizing fall.

"Loki!" Tony shouted, his T-rex roaring loudly and Clint growled, eyes narrowing at the attack as he let the arrow fly.

The arrow was one of the desired explosive arrows, digging deep into the right side of the dinosaur, causing it to roar before it glowed, the creature spinning in anger before it lifted its head and  _howled._

Loki jumped, somehow his flesh twisted and suddenly he was a giant  _freaking bird._

Amongst the explosion of odd clear liquid, mechanical limbs, biological tissue that was probably organs and a brain, there was a loud sound of something  _cracking._

A large glowing green and gold light drifted out like some sort of fairytale pixie dust. It circled a few times and almost  _sang_  when Tony looked right at it. Then it spread thin and vanished amongst the air.

Tony, had just looked at  _magic._

The large bird shrieked at the attack, suddenly the dinosaur Tony was on started to tremble, then it  _melted_ \- literally falling apart as Tony jumped up into the air and activated his thrusters, not looking back as he raced after Loki, who was flying rather drunkenly.

"Loki! Loki- stop! Stop it!" He shouted, opening his faceplate as the wind caused his eyes to dry out. The bird had its eyes tightly closed in pain as it struggled to keep flapping.

"Loki! Stop it! Something's wrong with you!" He shouted, but the large bird just ignored him and continued flying, flinching at a stroke.

Out of all of the insane things Tony had ever done, he could add tackling a bird on the list.

They fell, Loki squawking loudly as they hit, Loki jerking and twitching on occasion, mostly without his knowledge.

"Loki- Loki, stop it-  _stop."_  He growled, pinning the bird on the ground, wings splayed out as just as quick as his transformation happened, it was gone.

Instead was a pale faced Loki, on the ground and twitching slightly, panting with slightly glassy eyes looking somewhere over Tony's shoulder.

"Shit- Lok's? Loki-  _Goddamn it-_  why the hell are we in the middle of nowhere in Mexico!" He growled, them having flown a fair ways away from the base to seek help from the Avengers, or any lone raptors that survived.

"Poison." He gasped, convulsing again, causing Tony to look at him confused, then, just to be sure, check for arrow wounds.

"Not me you fool!" He spat, throwing his head back as apparently another wave of agony struck him. Tony pulled back, lifting his metal enclosed arms in surrender while Loki writhed, leaving Tony clueless.

"My creations- we are  _linked."_ He gasped, back arching causing Tony to blink and try to remember. He created the Dinosaurs, one dinosaur was struck with an arrow-

The thought came rushing to his mind  _'Poison'_.

He stared; finally realization dawning as he quickly grabbed Loki, holding the taller man awkwardly.

"Uh- okay. Do you need a cure or something? Is this like a Jellyfish- there is  _no way_  I am pe-"

"No!" Loki yelped, one hand finding Tony's shoulder, the metal groaning as it dented under the force of his fingers. "It's my seidr- it's contaminated." He flinched, causing Tony to hold on tighter.

"Fine just- how is San Antonio? I can get you there in a few hours, then we can figure something ou-"

Loki threw his head back, using one arm and pulling it across his face and biting hard, muffling the pain filled screech as blood started to run from the ferocity of his bite. This lasted only a few seconds, and then Loki grew limp, collapsing and not uttering another word.

Tony cursed, grabbing the taller man and throwing him over his shoulder, he blasted off softly, not wanting the wind to hurt his passenger as he plowed over the dessert quickly, almost as fast as when they first arrived.

It was night when Tony touched down in San Antonio, he was forced to pull the faceplate up to help him with the heat as he had noticed, it held no effect on Loki. He gently set Loki down on the outskirts, detaching his suit before running in, looking around for any form of hotel nearby.

A couple hours later, Tony was trying his best to haul Loki into the best room of a Best Western Plus, while ignoring his neighbor's flabbergasted face. (He was sure they thought he killed him.)

He heaved Loki to one of the large king sized bed, throwing him on ungracefully before arranging him awkwardly in a semi-comfortable position amongst the small pillows.

He let out a sigh, not liking the pale colour of his skin and the way he was still twitching slightly.

"Shit- Jarvis, pull up any information you can." He nodded to his helmet, which flicked on and started searching, as Tony directed.

"It will fade." He heard a raspy voice and looked to see Loki partially awake, foot twitching.

"What? The poison thing in your magic?" Tony asked, looking for  _something_  he could do.

"It will fade. Leave me." He gasped, back arching as he suddenly went still, dropping back onto the bed and his eyes falling closed.

Tony stared for a few seconds before spinning wildly towards his helmet, "Jarv-"

_"Mr. Silvertongue is currently sleeping. Heartbeat is steady, breathing pattern is steady. I will alert you if anything irregular occurs. There is a complementary computer already linked to my database, I assume you wish to overview the information from the SCORP base?"_

"You smart computer." Tony sighed, rising and leaving Loki while he quietly closed the door, walking over to the large bulky and out of date computer.

He scowled, searching through the first few files before a few labeled  _5-120-MAGIC_.

He clicked the first one, screen attacked by several graphs and more confusing data amounts, all showing the odd abnormalities of energy.

Tony spent hours pouring over the odd readings, before shifting to the data articles, and reports on projects.

He leisurely flipped through reports before he found one that was painfully surprising.

"What the?" He spoke, voice cutting off in a curse as he figured out what he was looking at-

Quartz rock was displayed in the picture, all different sized orbs of the rock while electrical gold and green energy was being forced into it- similar to what Tony had seen explode out of the dinosaur. It was depicted as a wires being hooked against the quartz while the wires led to a silently frozen image of a person possibly screaming and writhing in pain as what seemed like electricity arched upon the metal table.

It was Loki.

"Holy- Jarvis, scan this photo, find out  _when_  this was." Tony scowled, slamming his hands on the keyboard and jumping to his feet to scowl and pace, before hesitantly opening the door to Loki's room and looking at the still body.

_"Sir, my time estimate on the occurrence of the picture was before your initial contact with Mr. Silvertongue."_

"So that's why he wants SCORP to burn." He murmured quietly, looking at the report and finding another that was relevant, the location of the orbs that appeared able to contain magic. He found more information then he was expecting actually, information on people that worked, units, different sections and weaponry. Most of it was an organization that worked on what people hired. They had units for the black arm market or the mafia's worldwide. They made weapons and shipped them worldwide for different terrorist organizations; recently, they were working with magic.

Tony's scowl was hard set as he realized  _why_  people were after magic. Too many people had seen Loki's display during the invasion, too many people died and they wanted that.

"Already people are dying, Jarvis." Tony growled, looking at the reports angrily.

_"Sir? I mus-"_

"In Korea, an entire naval unit was destroyed by them creating a repulsor mine out of my tech. No survivors, declared shipwreck." He scowled reading more.

_"Sir-"_

"Japan, entire fishing village went up in flames when testing a magical flamethrower. Tester was burned to a crisp, as well as eight hundred people." He snorted, eyes falling to a gory picture that he looked away from quickly.

_"Sir, please put-"_

"What do you know, Argentina. Little girl was six when they tested a repulsor on her, her face is freaking  _nothing-"_

A loud siren caused Tony to jump and look towards Jarvis in partial annoyance, wondering  _what_  he wanted.

_"Sir, I really must insist. The amount of traumatic information you are absorbing is not matching with the psychological impact of a normal human being. I must insist for you to dispose of the report."_

Tony paused, looking at the picture of the girl with only the fragments of a skull left before understanding what Jarvis meant.

He should feel horror; he should feel guilt or feel an emotional breakdown, empathy at the least.

"Jarvis, search emotional imbalances besides Narcissism. Check for something else." Tony sighed, dropping into a chair while Jarvis hesitantly did so.

_"Sir?"_

"I don't think it's Narcissism- I think its  _worse."_  He groaned, trying to  _feel_  some sort of sorrow or anything besides the emptiness he never knew was there.

_"…Of course Sir."_

 


	18. Chapter 18

It was pathetic, how low the two had been reduced.

They were working out of a small dingy hotel; Tony was actually bribing the hotel staff  _not_ to say anything about Loki. (Apparently the girl at the front desk was convinced that Tony was a kidnapper and keeping his hostage drugged or some other idiotic idea).

Loki didn't seem to accept mortal medicine, retching it up quickly while simply falling back asleep. A few times he had woken up and actually been delirious, shouting something in a language that sounded very Icelandic before nearly attacking Tony, the latter only able to pin the taller man down because Loki was insanely weak at the moment.

Those odd near seizure attacks were rare and slowly growing longer in between. Now, nearly two weeks later, almost three months after the initial SCORP meeting between the two. The room that they rented oddly enough had a fire place in it (Tony suspected it was because they knew the air condition was crap). Tony had lit a fire and was sitting next to it on the floor, ignoring the chairs and sitting in an odd position, one knee drawn to his chest while the other was extended, arms wrapped around while holding a small coffee cup, already filled with the long since cold liquid.

He didn't look up as Loki wondered into the area, looking as sickly as ever while he dragged along with him the bed comforter, looking similar to a cocoon wrapped a near translucent skinned raven haired man.

Loki gently set himself on the ground, his thin body nearly impossible to see under the comforter as they both quietly stared at the fire.

"You know, once this is over I'll be gone." Loki spoke voice low and tired while Tony briefly glanced up at the other man, who was intently staring at the flames.

"And I'll try to convince you to stay."

" _Why?"_ Loki hissed turning and staring at Tony intently with the unnerving bright green eyes.

"…Why do you think?" Tony asked slowly, and Loki snarled, baring his teeth in an almost savage way.

"I'm a  _monster!_ I'll twist you and  _break you_  until all that is left is a  _shell_ of the  _pathetic_ mortal you are!" Loki snarled and Tony looked calmly at Loki, slight realization in his eyes.

"See, I find it funny that you say that, because actually, I'm  _pretty_ sure that you never felt like that before. So, I with my  _amazing_ skills of deduction can tell that you only say that because you're trying to convince yourself that.  _So,_  what brought on this random spree of self hate?" Tony drawled, glancing at Loki who narrowed his eyes.

"You know nothing about me or my life, mortal."

Tony's eyes narrowed slightly, and he turned, looking back at the fire, "Then tell me so I know."

They sat in silence; eventually Tony was the one to break the silence with a dull voice.

"I'm not the hero they say I am. You're not the monster they say you are."

Loki turned slightly, his eyes widening as he spotted Tony, who didn't react, staring at the flames intently while Loki casually looked over Tony seeing his emotionless posture.

"Your…emotions, they're failing you, yes? What ails you; I've never seen it before."

"I don't expect you to. Just- It's not going away. I'll have to deal with it." Tony sighed, standing up and walking out of the room while Loki continued to sit, staring at the fire.

 _'I've always had a plan. Every reaction, every move was calculated by me, and I have had centuries to calculate reactions. I have no more plans. I have no trick or illusion to help me here.'_  He thought bitterly, staring at the flames once more while he snapped the finger, wincing at the feverish heat which traveled through his body, not nearly as bad as before. _'Once I'm done Stark, I'm done. I cannot run, there is no place they will not find me. There is no crevice I can hide, no magic which will deceive me. I'm out, the trickster out of tricks.'_

He scowled, snapping, and the fire vanished.

x-(X)-x

"We should attack now."

Tony jerked his head upright, looking at Loki who was not only looking still fairly awful, but wearing the clothing he normally went to battle with.

"What? Uh- no.  _no._ You're sick and if we battle now, you're going to die." Tony stated firmly, Loki scowling and crossing his arms.

"Look, how about we…lets go back to Bruce, he may know what's going on with your magic, maybe even get more of it back-"

"I have restored it all. The virus is still contaminating my magic, forcing myself to use my body's store of energy to rid itself." Loki snapped, and Tony paused, looking at Loki carefully.

"…Wait, your  _magic_ isn't why you're sick? You have it all right now, but the fact you look like you got hit by a charging Bear on steroids is because you're lacking  _energy?"_

Loki eyed Tony warily before giving a slight nod, Tony slamming his hands on the table and jumping upright.

"That's it! Come with me Reindeer, we're going shopping." He nodded, snatching a pair of shades and a hat, throwing the door open and waiting expectantly.

"You don't think mortals will recognize us?" Loki asked dryly, causing Tony to roll his eyes.

"No, we're going to a  _gas station._  Look, I want to try something." Tony nodded, the two walking quietly and nodding to the front desk as they slipped out, moving quietly along the sidewalk as Tony located a nearby gas station, slipping inside and grabbing a basket, walking towards a section in the back before pulling multiple metallic cans from the large cooling unit, causing Loki to watch faintly amused.

"Oh, hold this." Tony scowled, hefting the heavy plastic container on Loki's arms while they moved towards the checkout, shoving the crate on the counter.

"Uh." The kid blinked from behind the desk, looking at the many cans while Tony scowled, throwing a hundred dollar bill on the counter and pointing to it.

"Yeah, this? Thirty some Monsters and around fifteen Red Bull- keep the change." Tony waved, guiding Loki outside while the kid blinked, not even arguing for the crate.

They moved back into the room, Tony grabbing the first black and green can, pulling a cup from the shelf and pouring the entire contents into the cup before taking a massive swig himself, and pushing the fizzing liquid towards Loki.

" _That_ ¸ is one of the best liquids on this planet, second two coffee and Red Bull, but technically they're like, the same, but not 8-hour Energy, that is  _nasty."_  Tony scowled, pushing the cup even closer to Loki, who stared at the drink distrustfully.

"Oh for god's sake-" Tony scowled, taking a swig from the glass to show it wasn't poison before pointedly looking at Loki, who hesitantly picked up the drink, swallowing it with a wince and a slight recoil.

 _"What_ in the name of Valhalla is  _that?"_

"Good huh?" Tony asked, arching an eyebrow as he took another can, popping the lid and gulping a little himself.

" _Good?_ That is the venom which burns the wounds of a thousand men and scars the earth with the vile concoction of poison and-  _By Odin's Beard!"_ Loki gasped, hands grabbing onto the counter and the fake wood groaning as Loki's fingers gripped hard enough to dent.

Loki stared, blinking in surprise, obviously feeling something from his spontaneous curse. He looked up slowly, meeting Tony's gaze while Tony smirked, lifting his can in a silent toast.

Loki snatched the glass, tilting it back with such vigor the liquid dribbled, running down his near translucent skin and dripping onto the floor as he guzzled the drink, slamming it back onto the counter with a cough and a gag.

"This… _burn."_  Loki coughed again, and Tony nodded, "The bubbles? Yeah, does that." He shrugged, causing Loki to scowl slightly before once more he tensed, eyes slipping shut as Tony stared at Loki, who once again stared at the odd sight.

"Okay, I have no idea what you're doing, but go ahead and drink these." Tony waved towards the crate of energy drinks.

"This…this  _concoction_ , it restores energy? It cleans my magic, it  _generates_ more." Loki stared at the can in slight fascination. "That could cause even the weakest of sorcerers to achieve feats of magic far beyond them."

Tony looked at the can, shrugging and shifting the create over towards Loki who snatched another can, frowning as he saw the complicated lid.

"You just pull back on the lip-"

"I can open this without assistance, Stark." Loki scowled, a playful look in his eyes while he frowned at the can, reaching over and grabbing a knife, stabbing the lid instead before guzzling the drink again.

"Although," He winced, wrinkling his nose," This taste is  _awful."_

Tony smirked, watching as Loki drank again from his can, toasting it with Tony's own.

The following days, the improvement was amazing.

Loki's skin color was back within hours of drinking an incredible amount of Monster's. Tony watched with slight amusement as Loki had not only finished the entire cart within the three days, but was actually requesting more, smirking while agreeing that he had the ability to teleport all the way to Nova Scotia, the man was practically  _glowing_ with power.

"So all this time SCORP's been draining you dry; they could have just been using energy drinks you could buy at the mall?" Tony asked with a lifted eyebrow while Loki snorted; finishing the last of the last Red Bull before blinking, back arching as he let out a slight groan.

(The odd state after drinking the liquid was actually when Loki's magic came in contact with it and used it to create more and purge Loki's system of infections.

Loki was literally a battery at that moment.

Loki only snapped his fingers and the two were standing in the living room of his other house, hearing a scream from Pepper as she dropped something, glass shattering as it hit the ground.

"Pep! It's me!" Tony spoke quickly, throwing his arms up in defense while nudging the suit with his foot.

"Anthony! What-  _how?"_

"Okay, first, I'm here with Lok's here- say hi Lok's." Tony winced, showing the taller man in front while Pepper blinked, looking at Loki who gave a slight bow.

"My apologize Lady, I was not aware that any others resided within the Manor of Stark. You have my humblest apologies." Loki nodded, even going the full length to take one of Pepper's hands and kiss it in some regal fashion.

Tony looked away lazily, not noticing Pepper's surprised face at his lack of reaction, before it narrowed in suspicion.

"Anyways! Jarvis, I need you to order Red Bull, or Monster. Preferably Monster, 'cause Lok's likes it more." Tony nodded, and he heard a door open.

"Pepper, what is it- Tony!" Bruce stated in surprise, just as Jarvis confirmed.

_"Of course Sir. How many shipments of the Monster drink would you like?"_

"Depends. How long until our attack?" Tony mused, looking at Loki whose eyes narrowed.

"A week, at most."

"Jarvis, get us 110 Monster drinks, that is if you drink sticking to how much you drank before." Tony stated, looking at Loki who smirked.

"…Creature, please increase the amount of the concoction to 130. Thank you." Loki nodded, Bruce's eyebrows lifting while he stared at Tony in confusion.

"Tony? What is with the drinks?"

"Ah! Reindeer Games here found out, that he uses the amazing energy increasing liquid to replicate his mumbo jumbo, basically, he's the battery. The drinks are the charger." Tony smirked, while Bruce's eyes widened.

"Wait, this entire time, all SCORP needed was a Monster drink?"

"Yup." Tony smirked and Bruce shook his head in confusion and disbelief.

"Tony, if you're going to take on this organization, you should get support from SHIELD." Pepper spoke, voice soft but stern as Tony scowled at the thought.

"No."

"Tony-"

"No."

_"Anthony."_

Tony paused, thinking things through a little longer before responding firmly with a, "No."

"Tony, it may be a smart idea." Bruce sighed, causing Tony to frown.

"SCORP is powerful, the more people we have helping us in this final fight, it may be better." Bruce eased and Tony sighed.

"Fine, but  _he's_ telling them." Tony pointed at Loki, who paused, smiling after a few seconds as he understood the logic.

"SHIELDS not going to agree with Loki Tony!"

"Then they won't agree with me. If they trust Loki enough to help, then they'll actually be useful!" Tony argued, and Loki lifted his hand, causing Tony to look at him curiously.

"Let me, Dr. Banner. It will be… _delightful."_  Loki smirked, leaning back calmly as he somehow found a chair. Bruce shook his head in confusion, Tony jerking upright and hurrying down towards his lab.

"Where are you going?" Pepper sighed, and Tony glanced at her from behind his shoulder with a smirk, "We're battling by Saturday! We have the base's location, we have our mumbo jumbo, and we're  _ready._ I'm fixing the suits. Lok's, call the Avengers." Tony nodded, vanishing down the stairs while Loki calmly looked at Pepper who sighed, walking towards a counter before receiving a Starkpad and walking back, tossing it to Loki who frowned, looking at the glass covered screen.

"Jarvis, call SHIELD through that." She sighed, walking away and Bruce following, wishing Loki a small 'good luck.'

The screen lit up with light, displaying a screen similar to one of his illusions. He let out a low breath, crossing his arms regally over his lap while waiting, the screen displaying Nick Fury instantly, his one eye widening before narrowing.

"Greetings, Director." Loki gave a sight nod, causing the other man to cross his arms.

 _"What do you want?"_ He gruffly stated, causing Loki to keep his face a mask.

"I want your soldiers, your precious team, the Avengers." Loki spoke, calmly blinking while Fury scowled.

_"Like hell you're getting them-"_

"It is in the interest of SCORP." He spoke, and Fury paused, leaning back in his chair and pausing,  _"I'm listening."_

"Between the combined efforts of Stark and I, we have discovered the location of SCORP's main base. Through the use of your soldiers, casualties and information loss will be much less. If you refuse to cooperate, there is no promise we will return."

_"Do you think I would actually care if you vanished off the face of this Earth?"_

"The beast known as the Hulk and Iron Man are accompanying me into battle. I have no doubts Thor will follow after, leaving behind your two assassins and the soldier. If we do not return, what are your chances of a formidable force against a larger foe?" Loki mused, a small predatory smirk on his face.

_"Oh? And why should I think that you have all the power? The last time I saw you, you had passed out and had to have Stark carry your scrawny little hide across a dessert."_

Loki's lips twitched into a frown, "A mere inconvenience at the time. A problem long since resolved."

_"And why should I trust that you won't pull a vanishing act on us and abandon us for this SCORP?"_

Loki's eyes narrowed as he looked intently at Fury, "I am known as Liesmith, Director. However, if there is one thing I can assure you, I do not back upon my oaths. I swear upon Urdr's Well that my intentions are purely of harm on SCORP and not your pathetic little army."

_"And why should I trust that?"_

"SCORP is not on my pleasantries. If they should fear anything, it is the anger of a god wrongfully used." Loki nodded, and he remained holding eye contact with Fury, the older man's eyes narrowing as they stared.

_"Send me the location of the base."_

"I'm afraid I cannot do that."

_"Then I can't send Hawkeye, the Widow, and Captain in. You're on your own Laufeyson."_

"Loki." Loki spit out, eyes glowing green with power and slight anger, "I am son of none."

_"…I see. Is that all?"_

"I am willing to make an…exchange, for your…oath, to assist us in our cause." Loki sighed, wishing he didn't have to come to this.

_"Like hell you have anything to offer us."_

"I can swear upon Yggdrassil to not claim this planet again in the act of warfare." Loki spoke, and Fury paused.

_"Your word is not enough."_

"The powers of the Norns can bind my life to my words. If I act against my sword oath, I shall be struck down and my string shorn."

_"I don't speak Norse, you Asgardian Idiot."_

"I will die." Loki cut off, leaving the man to stare at Loki, looking for some other reason for doing this.

_"And you'd sign yourself up to die just to receive the help of three people? Seems a bit funny to me."_

"I will assist your people in any way to destroy SCORP. They are not to be trusted; they hold information which is valuable in many languages, species, and magics."

_"So that's your game? You're in this for all the stuff SCORP has on you. You're trying to save your hide."_

"Aren't we all?" Loki sighed, and Fury stared longer.

_"What are your conditions, Loki?"_

"Your warriors assist us in the destruction of SCORP; in return you provide shelter and no ill intentions against myself. That includes spontaneous capture for acts of treason. All events leading up to the Chitauri are to be forgotten, and instead it begins anew. My previous acts to be erased."

_"No way am I going to forget all those people you killed without punishment."_

Loki's eyes unfocused slightly,  _'You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain…'_

"Oh Director, I assure you, I received punishment."

_"Strangely, I can't trust you on that."_

Loki looked at Fury before letting out a low sigh, "And your conditions?"

_"I help you, and you promise us that you'll never attack this planet again. Also promising to assist us in combat in the near future if we ever require it, and knowledge against extraterrestrial threats. You are also not able to communicate with enemies and share our secrets. We will not pardon you from your crimes, and you will be trialed like a normal human."_

"No, your trial system will torture me into submission, then kill me." Loki snapped, Fury's teeth gnashing.

_"You expect me to just pardon you from anything? Make you walk away free!"_

"Make my sentence something that is not torture or confinement." Loki suggested with a dry eye roll.

_"What? You want to spend your life with SHIEL- a consultant. For your punishment you have to work with SHIELD."_

"Then remove the policy that forces me to assist you in battle. If I am assisting SHIELD that applies as well."

Fury growled, eyes narrowing,  _"Then we have come to an agreement?"_

"It seems we have. As stated before, I, Loki Laufeyson, king of Jotunheim by birthright and Prince of Asgard by ritual agree to the terms above in exchange of Nick Fury of SHIELD granting me use of his three soldiers in the time of crisis against SCORP. Let the Norns rip my string if I betray."

_"And I as well. Now, you better tell us where the hell your ass is right now."_

Loki gave a small smirk, stating calmly, "Canada." Then turning off the transmission.

Loki stated at the tablet before closing his eyes with a low sigh.

_'You think I don't have a plan, Fury? You think that I will escape? I always have a plan, a plan even for when all traps and lies are unwound, and nothing can be paid. I am forced into a corner of pain and suffering. There is none who will force me into submission. I will die, or I will kill Thanos. After all, you cannot kill a Titan._


	19. Chapter 19

Tony had little to no objection to swooping in and flying the Quinjet himself to avoid Fury knowing where exactly his secret abode was.

The group had watched him, unnerved but abiding the rules on the firm contract that Loki struck to his side of the deal, most of which the terms had barely been glossed over by Fury to the group.

As far as Tony understood, Loki had agreed to help SHIELD in the future for the use of the remaining Avengers, the team having been a… _large_  threat against other outer space creatures.

Tony said nothing as Jarvis commanded the Quinjet, setting it to land on a small cliff side landing pad he had quickly acquired not even a month ago, knowing full well that an even such as this may have happened in the future.

He walked out, not even looking back as he moved across the landing pad towards the hidden home on the cliff side, the others walking after a fair distance away.

The moment they walked in the house Tony turned, leaning against one of the wooden walls as from down a hallway, Bruce appeared, wearing slacks in which his hands were awkwardly stuffed in. Clicking heels and Pepper also appeared, looking at the group with cool eyes, Natasha and Clint having no trouble with masking how they felt about that.

"Okay, ground rules. Under  _no_ circumstances are you allowed to backstab us- if you do we'll go all crazy on you and you'll lose." Tony added, using a finger to count up the points as Clint gave a soft snort.

"Second, Steve isn't in charge anymore.  _I_ am, that means you listen to me and  _my orders."_ Tony spoke, calmly stating it which the others looked at each other, then looking at Steve, who gave a slight nod.

"You stuff has been moved to your rooms, Clint, you and Steve will be bunking due to the limited space." Pepper spoke, shifting and walking down the hallway- the one on the opposite side of their own, Tony noticed, and vanished from sight with her heels clicking loudly.

Nobody moved while Bruce awkwardly sighed, moving down the hallway in the opposite direction, towards his own room.

"Why are we down that hallway, while Bruce is down that one?" Clint asked, jerking his head to signify which way.

Tony opened his mouth to respond, but instead a silky drawling tone cut him off, "To reduce tension and limit the amount of attacks you will have on my life, Mortal." Loki spoke.

He approached from around the corner calmly, dressed in casual black pants and a long sleeve black shirt; the entire ensemble may have looked funny if it were not for the narrowed emerald eyes with near slit eyes.

He walked into the room barefoot, showing the surprisingly small angular feet with an incredibly high arch, completely silent footsteps as he walked forward, noticing with every step how Clint tensed further and further.

"Fear not mortal, for this battle I am on your side, or rather-"Loki spoke, a small sly grin pressing on his lips as he let his eyes slide over the three, "You are on my side."

"Our side, Lok's. Don't antagonize them anymore." Tony pointed and Loki arched one eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry,  _I'm_ antagonizing them?" Loki asked, while Tony rolled his eyes at the innocent look.

"Yeah yeah, get out of here Lok's, you aren't really helping with the situation, go drink your Red Bull." Tony rolled his eyes, waving Loki away who arched an eyebrow, moving very purposefully towards the refrigerator on the far side of the room, opening the door and exposing the vast cavity filled to the brim with metallic containers with various symbols, branching from the multicolored Red Bull to the black and vibrant green Monster.

A Monster was what Loki selected as he snapped the lid open calmly, letting his eyes look over the three once more before he took a calm swallow of the stuff, Tony trying to not smile as he knew Loki hated the carbonation.

He turned, gracefully walking as he vanished down the hallway.

Tony rolled his eyes, looking back at the pale and slightly shaken Clint, the glaring Natasha, the unsure Steve and beyond everything else, the completely awestruck Thor, whom Loki ignored easily.

"Sorry about him, you'll get used to him anyways. Besides, you only have to deal with him one day then we're fighting." Tony shrugged, causing Thor to cast his awestruck eyes on Tony.

"Stark, my brother has shown none ease as that. You  _must_  speak of how." Thor spoke, causing Tony to arch an eyebrow.

"Uh, no. Mostly because I didn't really do anything. Natasha, Clint, if you try to kill him, he won't  _not_  fight back. He's not my dog and I'm not responsible for his actions." Tony spoke, looking at the four before locking eyes with Steve, "Understand?"

"Yes. Fury gave us a mission, and a deal with Loki. I'm not sure what it's over, but if it managed to spike the Director's interest, it must be important." Steve nodded, Tony giving a small noise of agreement.

"Whatever. Make yourself at home- oh, one more thing." He nodded, rising and pointing to the fridge, "That's Loki's. You drink his Red Bull or his Monster or any other energy drink I got him addicted to, there will be Hell to pay. Will he kill you? No, will he turn you into a Muskrat? Maybe." Tony shrugged, before walking out of the living room, leaving the four to sit their quietly.

Tony had only made it four steps in the hall before Loki ventured out from his room, the energy drink already crumpled into a misshapen fist imprint while he looked at Tony, eyes alert and awake with rejuvenated magic.

"You assume they will not question your authority?" Loki asked dryly, twisting the metal can until it groaned, splitting on the side and revealing surprisingly sharp edges.

"They should. If they don't, they know that their authority will be challenged." Tony shrugged, Loki frowned.

"You believe that you will assert proper force if they undermined your threat of power?" Loki asked dryly, causing Tony to give a shrug.

"Their fault." Loki frowned at the words, flinching and looking at his hand where he had clutched the sharp metal shell too tightly, he slackened his grip as blood slowly tricked down from his palm.

Tony noticed with a frown, wondering just  _why_  he had cut himself.

"…My apologize." Loki spoke, waving his other hand as he healed his open wound, before the blood slowly vanished from sight.

Tony blinked; Loki hadn't acted unnerved about the recent events nearly at all.

"Loki? You're…are you alright?" Tony asked quietly, looking rather uncomfortable as Loki paused before responding quietly.

"I am perfectly alright."

 _That_  was what alerted Tony, very rarely would Loki give him a proper answer, and when he did, normally it was an innuendo or a reference to something he knew not of.

 _"_ Loki- something is wrong, what is it?" Tony asked and Loki blinked, looking away and blinking.

 _"_ It is nothing, I- perhaps the sight of…Thor has…unnerved me." Loki spoke slowly, and Tony frowned.

He stared at Loki, and slowly moved to the side, where the Norse god gave a slight nod before moving past the hallway, towards the back door. He paused, having realized that he was now in the open for the living room to see him.

The four were sitting there; they had been talking but silenced themselves quickly having seen Loki, who turned ever so slowly to look at them from the corner of his eye.

They drew silent quickly and Loki paused, looking over his shoulder at the four as something caused his throat to seem heavy. He spotted Thor, who was staring at him, and although he… _hated_  Thor, knowing full well about what his fate would be like once he encountered SCORP.

He exhaled shakily and quickly opened the door quickly, stepping outside in the crisp air, feeling the cool breeze on his face as he inhaled and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and feeling the energized power rushing through his blood. He forcibly restrained it and added it to his core, restoring the scarred and hollowed area where his core had been sucked dry before.

He inhaled slowly once more and exhaled slowly.

Loki knew that he was going to die. (If not during the battle, either shortly after when the Chitauri find him again, or when the Allfather finds him and will sentence him for execution.)

The short freedom he had experienced since his sudden escape from SCORP and tracking them down with Anthony was surprisingly…enjoyable.

More and more often, he had been thinking about what he would be doing. Of course, he  _did_  wish to possibly see Jormungandr and Fenrir one last time, maybe even pay a visit to Sleipnir if he actually survived SCORP and the Allfather found him- he believed that his splitting with Sigyn was still in effect, especially after Vali and Narvi-

He turned, hearing the door open. He tensed, not shifting as he saw the Captain hesitantly moving out, warily and sticking by the door even as he closed it. The brief glance through the clear glass showed the other three, tense and ready to intervene, and Thor. Thor was just giving him those wide blue eyes that Loki despised so much.

"Loki." The Captain spoke, Loki giving a slight nod before looking back out over the cliff edge and the water below. He didn't have to actually  _see_ the man; his magic was working as a sixth sense, awareness on the other man.

"Captain." Loki responded, his voice a low drawl while he continued to look out over the ocean- a large fish or a dolphin having jumped out of the surf, perhaps a whale?

"…The Director told us you formed a deal with us. I want to know the proper terms of the deal." The Captain stated boldly, Loki's lips twitching in amusement at the declaration.

"I believe that the conditions in which I determined my cooperation are of no concern to you. All that is necessary for your satisfaction is that I am under non hostile terms and will not attack you in the present or near future." Loki spoke smoothly, looking over at the Captain, who gave a small pause before speaking again.

"And your alliance with Stark?"

Loki gave a dry smirk of amusement under the conditions, "a simple alliance. We both had a common enemy, I with more knowledge and Stark with the common resources to allow our search to be fruitful. He was a necessity."

"A tool then?" The man asked carefully, causing Loki to frown. Was Tony a tool? Something for his own use?

"…No. Stark is of greater intellect them to…allow himself to be used as a tool, or a utensil." Loki spoke calmly, a slight hesitation as he thought of what  _exactly_ Tony was.

Tony wasn't a pawn. He was more alike Loki in ways that easily overshadowed and of the Warrior Three or Sif. He was witty, sarcastic and yet  _brilliant_ , to a point in which Loki had to applaud him on his genius, and even give him respect.

Tony  _understood_  Loki to a degree that possibly could be frightening. Tony had advanced past a point of being a simple…requirement, for his revenge.

"Well, I'm finding it hard to believe that you've made friends with him." The Captain spoke carefully, and Loki said nothing stiffening slightly.

A… _friend?_  Having and exchanging a display of mutual affection?

 _'Possibly'_  Loki's mind whispered, and he felt especially chilled at the thought that he had grown more comfortable around a mortal then he had with Thor in centuries.

"…Our relationship is of no concern. Excuse me." Loki spoke, shifting and brushing past the Captain, making sure to let his arm brush him, letting the man know just how close he was and just how vulnerable he was.

He  _didn't_ want to face Thor or the others with such…unsettled emotions.

He snapped his fingers, a familiar can forming in his hand in which he easily popped the lid of, the familiar fizzing familiar to his ears as the required energy was barely to be noticed from the act.

Once again, once returning to his room he thought as of what he should do before his ultimate demise, which was surely approaching.

He already had used his skills through magic to see overhead the fates of his mother, who was sad and unable to foresee what was happening on the current planet. Due to Loki's shroud, not even Heimdall was able to puncture the fog Loki had summoned.

He had little left, his magic, his knowledge would all be for  _naught!_

A wave of frustration washed over him, and once again his hand crumpled the can, the sticky yellow liquid fizzling and dripping to the floor as the sharp edges once more cut into his palm, tearing at the thin skin.

He hissed, dropping it and shaking his hand angrily, waving the other to vanish the sticky mess of beverage, and blood.

He would  _not_  die without leaving something to be known by! Something that was not, 'World-Ender' 'Liesmith' 'Deceiver' and 'Silvertongue'.

Had the things he had done in his childhood been for nothing? The prize horses he had bred himself, the wall surrounding Asgard tricked and built for the glory of the people? The marvelous jewels and weaponry he had created, or the magical displays he had used to advance beyond the strongest sorcerers?

 _'No.'_  His eyes narrowed in anger, knowing the centuries of knowledge would be burned upon Asgard, written as foolish or as a curse upon health for all of his 'dark magic' or womanish misdeeds.

 _'The Mortal. He has seen you, and he has seen your mind.'_ His internal mind whispered and he closed his eyes.

Oh how true that was. Stark, the only creature in all the realms that may just have a similar mind to  _understand_  what he wanted him to know.

He frowned, looking at the room he was situated in before he walked towards the bed, gripping it with his hands and shifting it with his natural strength and letting it move across the room, leaving a larger gap, nearly four feet until it brushed against the other wall.

He looked at the space critically before snapping his fingers and summoning a dozen of the cans from the fridge- a summoning spell is much easier then conjuring from nothing but pure essence.

He opened the one, quickly downed it while trying to resist gagging before settling onto the bed and letting out a low breath, eyes focused as he gently lifted one hand and let his fingers rest upon his temple, the other in front of him as he quickly thought of the spell and whispered it with ancient words of magic.

He settled down- he would be here a  _long time._

At least, until Tony called for him to prepare for battle.


	20. Chapter 20

Loki?" Tony asked hesitantly, knocking on the door.

Very slowly he heard footsteps approaching the door, before it opened all the way.

Loki stood there, arching one eyebrow at Tony once he spotted the bracelets and the under suit for the metal suit- a tight black undershirt that allowed a hole for the light of his reactor.

"We're going to be flying out- I've already used the time I had yesterday to rig the Quinjet with various explosions and everything we'll need. The cargo bay's been gutted, so we have plenty of room. Are you…ready?" Tony asked, arching an eyebrow as he noticed Loki's slightly disheveled look.

"…How long is the travel?" Loki asked, and Tony looked up at the roof.

_"Our current destination is Alberta Canada, near the border of Montana U.S.A. With the distance of 2,879.5 miles. With the improved speed of 203 miles per hour, estimating no aerial damage or interference, there will be a flight with an estimated time of 14 hours and 10.8 minutes."_

Loki gave a nod, stepping out of his room and waving his hand with a twisted flick of his fingers, the soft black clothing bulging with a light blue light, before seemingly shifting in front of him.

It was different armor, it was sleeker plating, not thick and painfully obnoxious like Thor's, but rather more form fitting, made with overlaying pieces that almost looked like scales, each gingerly reinforced with a Titanium Gold Alloy that Tony had… _persuaded_  Loki to let him attach to his armor that he was actually going to fight with. It was a dark color, almost looking carbon fiber with how it  _didn't_  reflect light, only the metal clasps and the lighter silver crosses over his chest making it shine. A small tiny scale design down his arms, almost like chain mail where it morphed into a long arm guard in the matching black, a slight sharp edge protruding from the far side of the forearm, sloping where his hands were actually exposed to the air, long pale hands slender.

The armor spread from the chest plating down into several trailing strips, which slid down around mid-thigh, longer in the back nearly like a long black metal plated but flexible trench coat. His dark leather pants were made with the matching non-reflective black metal spread on the outer sides, leaving an area free for flexibility.

His shoes morphed with every step to an almost delicate thing, not bulky like tennis shoes, but looking almost like the sleek design of high heels or women shoes, instead black with a metallic built to it, ending with painful spikes at the tip, no doubt steel toed or something along those lines.

"Impressive." Tony teased while Loki rolled his eyes, cracking his neck as he bent it, one more slight trailing shape of blue and from the back of his shoulder blades a long deep emerald cape fell. It did not looking majestic and bold like Thor's but almost matching the trailing trench coat as another protective layer, until he moved and it flowed behind him like a horse's mane.

They walked out, meeting in the entry way where everyone was suited up, Thor's eyebrows lifting at the apparel as he rose. "Brother-"

"I am not your brother." Loki coolly responded, looking at Tony then at the fridge, Tony easily understanding his question.

"All of the energy stuff has been loaded, we got a powdered form mixed with saline for an IV drip, and you have  _a lot_ to drink- are you good at chugging?" Tony asked, causing Loki to give a slight sigh.

"…I do not understand. Isn't this…'chugging' only used with your Midgardian ale?" Thor asked, blinking widely.

"Kinda." Bruce quickly interjected, standing awkwardly by the corner, looking at everyone who was all ready and suited up- except for him.

"Chugging just means drinking something quickly without breathing. What  _I_ want to know is why the _hell_  is he drinking Energy Drinks?" Clint growled one hand on his bow while another was on the quiver next to him.

"Temporary magic source- his body can take the sugars and other fake ingredients inside the drinks and convert it to energy his body uses to fuel magic." Bruce explained, while Thor still was eyeing Loki's apparel.

"…You have not worn that in many centuries." Thor spoke quietly, and Loki eyed him warily before choosing his words carefully, "Gold will be distracting amongst the chaos." He spoke, eyes shifting over the large bulky gold and silver plating, and the bright crimson red cape.

"Perhaps, but my battle style requires chaos." Thor grinned, as if it was simple banter. Loki did not rise to it, not a single flicker of emotion rose on his face as he gave a simply one shoulder shrug, eyes narrowing.

"Perhaps, but not all chaos is appreciated. I know better than any." Loki spoke, and everyone was faintly reminded of his title,  _'God of Chaos.'_

It was a slightly somber tone in the air before Tony blankly cut through the silence quickly, rising and walking towards the landing pad, and "We should be off." He shrugged, and Loki quietly followed after, his feet silent as he walked out of the door.

The Quinjet slowly rumbled to life as everyone walked up the bridge platform, Jarvis already built into the system and gently fixing the gauges, using holograms to quickly fix anything inside.

"Alright, everybody on?"Tony asked, and everybody mumbled a positive, except for Loki who quickly moved to the side of where Tony was, leaning against the window overlooking the left wing, not even blinking when Bruce fussed over getting the IV with saline-energy drink into his arm, trying to find a chink in his armor.

Loki didn't say anything to the others as they watched, partially confused and amused as they saw the IV.

The trip was nearly dead silent, at one point tony had started to hum, but one sigh from Bruce and that was silenced quickly. The others didn't dare talk about how bored they were, but instead suffered the silence as Loki downed yet another Monster drink, the magic stores that had been depleted long ago were nearing the highest amount, every energy drink he had drunk in the past two weeks had been put to his storage.

If he wanted to, he could make a mountain combust and not even loose a  _quarter_  of his energy.

It was a pain, in Loki's opinion. He was drinking near insane quantities of the hated liquid, then magically banishing any excess water. It was a slow process, mostly because it took one hour for four liters of the liquid before banishing it, then repeating the process.

Over a  _fourteen hour trip._

Thus, after 56 liters of Monster and Red Bull-  _he was stick of it._

And ridiculously overpowered to the point, where magicians on Asgard might just kill for just how energetic he was.

"Alright, we're here. Ten Miles south." Tony spoke, and rather quickly, he descended below the clouds, landing suddenly and causing the occupants to jolt as they landed, Loki scowling while Tony seemed oblivious to the directed anger.

"So what is the plan oh brilliant one?" Clint growled, a furious glare on Loki, whom ignored it easily.

"Loki, scope the area and report back once you see any strong holds or anything we can use. The rest of you, you're going to direct the danger out here and try to keep the fight directed out here. Agent Romanoff, you're going in with Loki, find the core of the magic production or their weaponry, and blow it up. No survivors, got it?" Tony spoke calmly, and Steve looked unnerved.

"You want us to  _kill people?"_ Steve asked, in disbelief while Tony frowned.

"Well, yeah. I mean, they'll kill you so you kill them first." Tony spoke, frowning slightly in confusion.

"Tony! You can't just  _ask us to kill people!"_

"Well how else are you going to stop them?" Tony shouted back in frustration, Loki watching with a slight frown.

"It's inhumane!"

"It's life!" Tony shouted back before scowling, turning and walking off the Quinjet, Loki carefully pulling the needle from his arm and stopping the tiny remnants of the IV, following after with one solid glare at Thor, who didn't try to follow.

Tony walked out, and looked at Loki, who gave him one last lingering look before jumping, body seeming to melt and crack sickly before an average sized hawk flapped, rising higher into the air and towards the base.

He had looped above the grassland once, flapping easily to rise high by the clouds as he scanned the area, easily spotting the large sick blur of tainted grey steel and other metallic properties, putrid black and purple smoke billowing out in almost liquefied tar and other various chemicals.

The base was large, perhaps even as big as the Helicarrier, fitted with several ports in which trucks were parked and the faint tips of planes poked from the sky lighting.

He circled again, seeing the separate levels and the slight indentation of earth around the building, suggesting a basement or lower levels.

Once more, and in his final swoop did he see the soldiers, similar to those he had spotted on the tape of their destruction at the jail. They were equipped with similar weapons, as well as large weapons with a long crystal attachment to the barrel of the gun- possibly used to emit magic frequencies and blasts.

He mentally scowled at the sight, his bird beak not able to contort to such posture as he flapped, trying to find a weak spot before the initial attack.

The western half was where the majority of the trucks and soldiers were, weaponry poking from the sides and displayed from below the roofing windows. Obviously, the western was the attack front, as the road connected to the western side. The east was less defended, glass windows displaying multiple patrols and scouts, watching carefully. Large open areas with various rooms and lighting that reminded Loki of his own seidr practices. If anywhere, the quarts would be in that area.

He turned, winds flaring for the sharp cut, looking at the thick wire and guard towers overlooking the fields, no doubt with orders to kill any living creature in sight.

 _'It will be simple to manipulate the fences to our whim. The Female and I will find the core and detonate the building. The others will fight on the outer rim and draw a distraction. In my position sentiment is not required in the ideals of whom shall live and whom shall die.'_ He thought quickly, flapping and drawing out of sight and range quickly.

 _'I have conviction. I have sentiment, and that is not required or advised. I require reason, not emotion.'_ He thought, before a sharp pang of understanding and numbing realization struck him.

He continued flying, plan already in mind.

x-(X)-x

Loki returned, flapping twice before digging his talons into a ledge on the Quinjet, staring at Tony who didn't even blink as he shifted his form back.

Bruce jumped in surprise, stumbling back while Clint's hand shot to his bow, Natasha's to her guns as she watched Loki balance easily on the precarious ledge.

"Find anything?" Tony asked with a frown, Loki blinked lazily.

"Their east side is the least protected backing up against the experimental labs. The west side is their military personal. There are underground floors, although I am unsure as to how many. An estimated amount of soldiers as above five thousand." Loki coolly responded, Thor looking at the others in surprise at the amount.

"Well, any weaknesses?" Tony responded, not looking concerned.

"Their base is built up of separate buildings, although the obvious centre is where larger military or scientific experiments are kept. If that is detonated all of the base will be destroyed." Loki quickly listed off, Tony nodding with thanks.

"Do they suspect us?" Tony asked again, and Loki gave a slight shake of his head.

"Perfect. Draw them out then fight until you can get inside and kill them all." Tony nodded to Loki, who shifted slightly with a lazy cat expression.

"Would you care for me to sabotage the tanks and heavy artillery before you attempt battle?" Loki asked with a slight drawl of the words. Tony gave a short nod and Loki echoed it, dropping down before retreating inside the Quinjet and retrieving one of the remaining Red Bulls. He didn't actually… _need it_ , but something about the taste had caused him to almost crave the carbonation.

The night was restless; Loki had resorted to sitting far from the Quinjet while the others piled in for a sleep, letting only Tony and Loki remain outside around a small green fire Loki had conjured lazily.

"So, finally going to kill SCORP." Tony spoke conversationally, looking at the fire.

"Correct." Loki spoke slowly, looking up carefully and shifting once more before his lips twitched, as if he was going to say something.

He had accepted that tomorrow there would be battle, and with the current plan, there was a chance that Loki would not return. That Loki would not see any of the major battle, and leave Tony for the fight.

There was a chance, that this would be the last time he would see Tony.

"There is one last gift I wish to leave with you, Tony." Loki spoke, his smooth voice somehow making Tony's name still sound regal. He resisted the urge to clear his throat, the odd uncomfortable knot growing in his trachea.

Tony looked up with a slight furrow in his brow as Loki rose, walked over before settling next to him, lifting one hand and splaying his fingers across Tony's temple, who opened his mouth to comment on how strange it was-

Loki exhaled, and  _let go._

Tony grunted, using his arms to brace himself as he fell backward, a rush of bright colors and sensations rushing through him- warm and bright to cold and dark, red and hot to frigid and black-

Loki watched ever so draining as Tony slumped backwards, feeling as if he was choking through the entire process.

Ever so slowly, he was feeling more and more cold, stiff and unforgiving before he felt  _muted-_  as if silenced or one of those gods be damned muzzles was in his  _head._

 _'So this is what Tony was experiencing.'_ His mind pulled up with a whisper, and there was a near surprising amount of lack of sympathy- also due to the fact he wasn't feeling surprised.

He blinked, looking at the fire which was flaring during the emotional transfer, and not settled to a low slight glowing of the embers.

Loki closed his eyes.  _One last gift_.

He didn't  _need sentiment._

x-(X)-x

They moved, a sudden tenseness in the air that put previous activities to shame.

Loki was hooked up to the IV once more, and was using the active fluid being mixed with his blood to cast the shrouding spell over the Quinjet, going all out to try and avoid detection, not only from sight but as well as heat, sound, smell, and even simple magic detection spell that SCORP would be able to use- if that.

His eyes were closed as he focused, one hand pressed against the shell of the plane as the other was arched and postured oddly, actively dripping water that the IV gave off, and was not required in his body.

"…You sure he won't purposefully kill us?" Clint sneered and Thor shook his head, "Nae, my brother would not risk his own life for a death like this." Thor argued while Loki let out a sigh, doubling his strength enough to send a sudden jolt of power into Thor's backside, who jumped in surprise.

"Settle down kiddies, we're almost there. You know the plan?" Tony asked lazily, and the others muttered their agreements, Loki opening his eyes suddenly as he instead turned the IV pump higher, not wishing to tap into his stored power.

"Here we are- Lok's, you holding? We're directly above, on your call, say when you drop the cloak and take out their military." Tony spoke, flipping a switch to maintain altitude at that level, and the Quinjet weaponry slowly targeted down at the roofing of the huge complex.

"In a mere moment." Loki spoke, voice nearly a mumble as he slowly rose, Tony rising and shifting from the pilot's seat, his suit forming around him as everyone else drew their weapons, with a careful look, Natasha rose to take control of the weapons and targeting system.

"Three." Loki spoke, eyes opening as his removed the IV line, moving his hands out in front of him as his eyes seemed to glow. "Two."

Natasha's hands tightened on the trigger, Thor's hands tensing on Mjolnir's handle as he prepared to attack.

Loki waved his hand, and suddenly the Quinjet seemed to lose the constant hum around it- as well as the ground burst into sudden flame.

They could hear the sudden screams and people running frantically, clothed in green flames which licked hungrily at them, melting walls and causing glass to distort into awkward shapes. Tanks and large missiles groaned as they turned molten, a few even detonating, causing large explosions and more screams.

"Open fire." He spoke, eyes alight and glowing green with his fire as it danced among the chaos, burning and scorching the grounds.

Natasha took controls, the turrets firing bullets upon the ground which quickly spread the fire also, emerald green and orange dancing together.

Finally shots echoed against the hull, a new rank of troops out of reach of the flames appeared, and Natasha opened fire, knocking down the rank as more eventually rose up.

"Hawkeye." Tony nodded, Natasha removing herself while Clint moved forward, slamming his shoulder into Loki's as he passed and took controls, knocking down the soldiers as if it would relieve his anger at Loki.

"Are you good to go?" Tony asked, looking at Loki who icily turned and gave a nod, Tony echoing it.

"Alright, Widow, go and take down the base from the inside. There's no saying what's in there. We'll hold them off out here. Go; try to keep your com feed open." Tony nodded and Loki shifted, turning with a blank expression on his face before holding an arm out, where Natasha gripped it painfully hard.

"Be careful." Tony warned and Loki gave a nod, opening his mouth to chant the short phrase of teleportation.

"Hey-" Tony spoke quickly, one arm on Loki's shoulder, causing Loki to look at him suddenly, and Tony bit his lip, looking unsure.

"I know what you did-  _why?"_ Tony asked, and Loki coolly responded in a monotone, "Your job required sentiment. Mine requires none. My emotions are better to be used on you. Enjoy it- it is temporary. They will return to my body on the morrow." Loki responded, Thor looking at Loki in alarm.

"Return in one piece, Lok's." Tony grinned, and Loki gave a short nod. "Beware Stark; they may have more of your Midgardian reptilians. I will keep a brief mental connection, only for communication purposes. Call and I will hear." Loki nodded, before chanting something incredibly exotic.

A wave of green light, and they vanished from sight.

Tony exhaled and nodded to Clint, who lowered the hatch.

It was battle time.

x-(X)-x

Natasha blinked, releasing her grip immediately and taking a step back, taking a moment to observe her surroundings as Loki did the same, looking up and down the white corridor she was in.

"This Is the base level. I presume that there are several underground complexes." Loki spoke smoothly and calmly, turning on his heel before walking, briefly glancing to see if Natasha was following.

Natasha knew better then to object. They started at a quick walk, people stumbling out of rooms as the sirens blared, declaring that they were under attack. With a swift flip from Natasha or a gesture from Loki, the men were dispatched silently and unnoticed.

They moved, Loki moving a latched stairs entrance out of the way as they moved down, instead of running down each step they vaulted over the ledge, falling dozens of floors before catching themselves from impact.

They moved, seeing the larger and more security formed door, fit with an eye scanner, card reader, thumb print analyzer and a voice recognition pad.

Loki snapped his fingers, the pads fizzing and flashing on and off before suddenly they glowed green, allowing access to the inside of the level.

They walked in both looking around cautiously as they moved quickly through the lab, only walking a few dozen feet before the light changed, as if to best shroud any onlookers as to the actual scientific research being conducted.

Natasha looked over at the glass cautiously, frowning as she saw large aquatic creatures, disfigured and oddly colored, moving almost with superb health. A Starfish was glowing a faint purple, as it seemed to move almost as fast as a turtle, impressively faster than its previous speed.

"Rogers, Stark. Experiments down here are odd, testing and abnormalities on low level life forms." Natasha spoke into her comm. Coolly, giving one last look at a snail which had a large pulsating budge on one side, although it seemed to move, much  _much_  more rapidly than normal.

_"Looks like they did more testing. Probably started there, tell Lok's that they're probably more than just Jurassic park down there."_

Natasha glanced at Loki who walked through the room coolly, approaching the other side as he tonelessly spoke, "I overheard, Agent."

Natasha paused before quickly stating in the comm."He's aware." Then following after.

Near the far end of the door was a large oxygen converter which was used to pump air and over minerals into the water that all of the aquatic creatures were using. Natasha didn't even blink as Loki flashed a dagger, cutting the line and almost instantly the room flashed with red lights, alarms flaring as the supply cut off to the tanks, the creatures struggling was futile.

"We must go. There is little doubt that further scientists will not flock to this room to investigate." Loki spoke, forcing the door on the far end open, instantly dropping and slamming his arm up, his fist equipped with a dagger slamming into the thin skin set between the jaw bones and up, puncturing the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the man dropping instantly from the killing blow.

Loki braced one foot on the skull before pulling his blade with a wet suction sound, causing Natasha to blink slowly at the uncomfortable yet familiar sound.

"We should hurry." Natasha nodded, grabbing the dead man and moving him towards the backside of another tank, leaving him out of immediate sight.

"correct." Loki nodded, the two taking off into another room filled with more of a medical lab, in which Loki took great pleasure to open all of the gas valves magically as they ran.

"Intruders! Intruders are in here!" They heard a shriek of a woman; they turned trying to see the screaming and running white coat, making way towards an emergency button.

Natasha ran, using one of the lab benches set up as a lift for her to spring up into the air, landing on the woman's shoulders, forcing her to crumple to the ground, thrashing while Natasha with a small flinch, broke her neck painlessly.

She rose, tugging the woman's corpse back and behind a lab station and out of sight, as of the other body.

She looked over her shoulder, seeing Loki's fingers flying over a computer, actually managing to make it work.

"I wasn't aware that Asgardian's knew how to work our technology." Natasha spoke coldly, and Loki didn't even look up through the distraction.

"I have gained knowledge through Anthony Stark in previous times. Such abilities are suitable for conditions we are currently in, it is only logical to use any acquired traits to stay alive in such environment." Loki responded coldly and without emotion, causing Natasha to eye him warily with such a strange reply.

"the core of the building is in testing room five. We are currently in the complex of testing room one. I have mapped out the current path to the core of the building, as well as any explosives on the way." Loki spoke, standing up as the computer combusted oddly enough.

Natasha eyed it warily as she followed Loki who walked at a quick pace down the hall, taking an immediate left and down a small corridor as the two snaked their way around the complex, even on occasion, encountering lab coats who were a little too late for the initial evacuation.

 _"Widow, report."_ Tony spoke, causing Natasha to pause temporarily as she flicked the open feed on for mic compatibility.

"Loki has managed to hack into a computer terminal and mapped out the clearest path towards the core of the base. We will be there momentarily."

_"We'll try to stall as much time as we can. You have maybe twenty more minutes until they really start to get to us. If we need to, you may have to help with the firefight later on. You may have to carry on alone."_

Natasha paused, looking at Loki who had managed to hack into the second level door, holding it open temporarily before locking it, bending the frame with a twist so it could not close.

Natasha quickly closed the feed, darting after and managing to trip one trembling scientist who attempted to sneak up on Loki, collapsing from one of Natasha's throwing knives, not as sturdy or deadly as Loki's.

Loki glanced over his shoulder, seeing the dead man before turning and continuing on, not looking at all unnerved by the near hit.

Natasha frowned at the lack of emotions, finding it incredibly unnerving.

Natasha looked to her right, seeing similar tanks as before, although instead of aquatic creatures there were larger animals, pacing and widely awake.

There was a dozen lab rats, running in circles as they were each adorned with some sort of awkward or not natural appendages.

She halted, eyes drifting on a white mouse, which suddenly shifted to a dark yellow, the others responding and turning into an array of bright and obnoxious colors.

Natasha jumped. Spinning back as she heard a distinctive hiss, seeing a wide eyed scrawny orange and white spotted cat. It growled, low and stared with huge  _glowing_  green eyes, arching its back and hissing again.

She eyed it, fully expecting it to burst into a vibrant shade of purple, or perhaps even teal just to surprise her.

 _Snap!_ Instead it was suddenly pressed against the glass, causing Natasha to take a step back as the Cat seemingly  _teleported._

"The creatures within this base have been attributed with magical properties. There is little warning as to what each species acquired which trait." Loki spoke, walking past a snarling dog, which seemed to shift from a Terrier to a Saint Bernard.

It seemed that the second section was larger than the first, as well as nearly a dozen more people than the previous levels, all currently dead.

They descended staircases, leaping over the railing and dropping several stories that made up the second section.

"Stark, Rogers, we're advancing into the third section." Natasha reported, the comm. Holding static before Stark's voice cut through.

_"We're working on this side. Thor's calling down that creepy voodoo crap. Hawky is having a blast up in that Quinjet-literally. Bruce's looking kinda' green, and Rogers is rocking the stripes. What was in the second section?"_

"More advanced creatures. Domesticated animals, cats and birds." Natasha spoke, causing the comm. To patiently wait a response.

_"They seem to be advancing in understanding of this magic crap?"_

"Correct." Natasha affirmed as the two slunk through the third section.

_"Alright. Watch out, section three. What do you see so far?"_

Natasha froze, looking at the large caged in areas with shock and slight fascination as brightly colored obviously reptilian creatures cried out from above, tilting their heads before flaring their feathers. Others snapped their jaws as their swept their tails widely, blinking reptilian eyes.

_"Agent?"_

"…I am afraid to say, but I believe that this section is about prehistoric creatures." Natasha spoke, regaining composure with some effort.

_"…You found Jurassic Park? That early? No- it should have been section four if their five- wait wait wait- give the comm. To Loki."_

Natasha paused, taking the device from her ear and flicking it onto a speaker option, giving it to Loki who took it without difficulty.

_"Lok's?"_

"Present." Loki responded, walking through the doorway and into another separate unit, Natasha eying the huge thick glass revealing clear water filled with large creatures, fitted with mysterious flippers and large teeth. One resembling a humongous shark, while another was the only creature Natasha had recognized so far, a plesiosaur.

Although…if she recalled correctly, a plesiosaur  _wasn't_ a dinosaur.

It moved, its large head shifting to the side as its long thick neck followed, then the thick body with the thick flippers and the almost comical stub of a tail.

She glanced back up, Loki was responding to a list of questions Stark was firing off, mostly about what they had seen. She overheard Loki give a listed report with how they had 'progressed to using the quartz within biological creatures native to the current planet and creatures known as 'Dinosaurs''.

"If I may." Natasha spoke, taking the comm. And quickly speaking into it.

"Stark, I've noticed that this…organization isn't focusing on dinosaurs."

The comm. Was quiet as Tony hesitated before asking quietly,  _"Explain."_

"I've seen a Plesiosaur here, if I'm correct they aren't a type of dinosaur. This organization may not actually be intending to revive dinosaurs, and instead other extinct species."

_"Or they're testing their boundaries…Natasha, when you walked in, what were the creatures there? What did you see?"_

Natasha blinked trying to remember before listing off a quick description, Tony cursing on the other side.

_"Crap- that's an Archaeopteryx. A feathered bird dinosaur thing- they found biological tissue on it a couple years ago- oh god…they're working backwards. They're working to recreate extinct species with tissue and bone structure, trying to recreate something that already has a blueprint. Natasha, tell Loki right now, they're creating something new. They're creating something and testing it on Dinosaurs. I don't know what's in that next section, I can only assume that section five will be their final creation, if it's complete. Loki?"_

"I heard." Loki spoke, walking past and into the next room, which was fitted with bright white walls and large open cages, fitted with various creatures and specimens.

They slowly grew to an even larger specimen, until at the very end of the snarling and spitting hall, were two huge open cages, similar claw marks on each side and the empty door led Natasha to believe that it was were the Spinosaurus and the T-Rex had resided previously.

"Stark, there's a creature here. Small, bipedal and I think carnivores. Similar to a bird, two feet max. There's a name, I think it may be rare or their prize dinosaur." Natasha reported.

_"Even more so then the 'Rex?"_

"Apparently so. Does the name 'Compsognathus' mean anything to you."

_"…Jarvis says that's the rarest dinosaur in existence, only two fossil records and roughly only four bones between the two. Crap- if they made that thing from practically scrap, then they can make almost anything. You could be facing anything, just get in there and plant that bomb, then get. Out."_

Natasha walked after Loki, who immediately walked from the room, door closing before he snapped his fingers- a searing heat seeming to reflect off the closed metal door.

She heard the roars that shook the walls, almost vibrating as the creatures roared, burning alive as others thrashed as their own water turned to boil them alive.

She tried to ignore it once they moved down the next staircase, leaping down the railing and standing by the level four entryway.

"I am uncertain as for what will be beyond this door." Loki spoke, pausing slightly before pressing his hand against the scientific scanners, each finally beeping and glowing green as it permitted access.

They walked in, Natasha tensing while Loki walked on, not even managing to look concerned over the sickening display.

_"Are you in? What is it? What is in section four?"_

"People." Natasha chocked out. "Humans- and they're dead."


	21. Chapter 21

Tony froze, hearing the words filter through his helmet with Jarvis' help.

He tensed, swallowing sickly as he remembered how quickly they had shot down Justin Hammer- how ruthless they were with his death. How brutal and emotionless they had  _tortured_  Loki-

"Agent, I want you to give the comm. To Loki again." Tony swallowed, landing temporarily on an upturned Tank that the Hulk had jammed upright.

 _"…Tony."_ Loki spoke, voice entirely cool and emotionless while Tony felt a pang of guilt over the transfer of emotion.

"Lok's. Do you still have that mental link with me? That thing you did to switch emotions?" Tony asked hurriedly.

_"Correct. It will take noticeably more strain to maintain a connection over a long distance, as well as establish it. Of what sort do you require the mental link?"_

"Emotions, swap them back. Take them- you're going to need them." Tony spoke, the comm. drawing momentarily quiet.

_"Tony that is not a wise action. The sudden flux of emotion on your part may create an illusion of betrayal in those of who I have recruited. It is highly illogical to take such precarious risks for a cause that has little to no outcome."_

"Oh, shut up- one second." Tony scowled, muting that channel and pulling open the feed to all other communicators excepting Hulk, who continuously managed to break them.

"Guys- I'm going to go through a midlife crisis- sorry 'bout that. Thor! Make sure I don't do something odd like, combust or do some stupid self-sacrificing thing." Tony spoke casually before flicking the feedback over to Loki, and carelessly spoke, "Done! There, now do the swap-y thing."

_"You are wildly incorrect with your assumptions of this being a simple swap. Yet, as your importance in this mission and your incredible luck in prior missions, I will do as said."_

Tony blinked, waiting and almost frowning as nothing seemed to happ-

A harsh tug and suddenly it felt as if something cold had been dumped on him- a fish hook implanted in his back and tugging him backwards, silently choking as he felt a disarray of emotions fly past him-

He blinked again, mentally recognizing the lack of emotions.

_"What the hell were you just talking about, Stark? Some crap about combusting?"_

"I believe I was stating that in my sudden lack of emotion I would hold low regard for my own safety normally my emotions would counteract." Tony responded coolly and blankly, Clint giving a curse on the com.

_"The hell? I thought that you didn't have any emotions to begin with!"_

_"Only my brother holds the ability to transfer his mind into others, I would not put it past him to transfer emotions to another."_

"Correct. We have been transmitting emotions intermittently between the two of us. I find that in Loki's current situation, a sense or morals were more important." Tony responded, rising in the air with repulsors, brutally shooting down an assault team that dared try and get to him, ignoring just how inhumane it seemed.

_"What the hell is that-"_

_"Mind your words, Man of Hawken eyes. You are speaking of my brother."_

_"…Jerk, doing with 'Tasha?"_

_"This 'Jerk' as you call me, Agent, is currently working his way through the second to last level of a testing facility that contains horrors I'm sure would make your pathetic mind burn."_

_"Why you-"_

"Enough. How much longer is mandatory to reach the core of the building?" Tony asked, watching the Hulk dive and take out a rolling car, flipping it over as it burst into flames from a busted fuel tank.

_"It depends. So far, no humans are alive. All are in various testing areas; I can only assume that they were trying to create a biological weapon. There are files here from a computer terminal- does the name 'William Stryker' mean anything to you? I believe his research was based on creating a single human entity with mutant powers, collaborated together to create one mass super weapon."_

"Jarvis, search William Stryker." He ordered, Jarvis obeying and pulling up several articles, badges and ribbons from a war, medallions and documents showing his advancements to a colonel and eventually, his mutant work on an isolated island. Apparently, Logan (Or Wolverine at the time) had first been sighted there too.

"He's a biological constructer. He took a human and morphed it into some unknown creature that was called 'Weapon IV' or 'The Deadpool.'"

_"Then there is a large chance that I will be facing a humanoid creature with magical properties….excellent."_

_"Be carefully, my brother-"_

_"I am not your brother you imbicil-"_

_"Hey! This line is for actual combat talk here, not for some married couple squabble!"_

_"…Thor is nowhere near as stunning as Sigyn, Agent."_

_"Sigyn? I was not aware that you and Sigyn ever courted."_

_"You know what! Off- right now!"_ Clint shouted, apparently clicking a mute on his radio feed.

There was a slight static noise and a small hiss as a muffled thump was heard from Loki's end of the line, before he responded again, slightly breathless,  _"I apologize. There was a…slight inconvenience on my end. More guards are assigned the closer to the core we travel."_

 _"Just get in there, and get out. Try not to give casualties."_ Steve spoke, and there was a slight pause on the other side.

_"Brother? Surly you didn't-"_

"Enough." Tony spoke, mostly focusing on any threats and destroying them efficiently, "If death is a logical course of action. All deaths are not of blame, but of SCORP's for dare challenging or initiating previous attack." Tony spoke coolly, and quickly cut back to the lines once he saw large tank like weapons slowly rolling into the area, Thor pointing his hammer and summoning lightning.

It rolled down, the sky roaring angrily as it struck the shell, which glowed from the intense heat, before the energy broke, leaving a smoking shell of a tank which slowly started to move again.

_"What? Didn't Thor just hit that thing with lightning?"_

_"Correct, Man of Hawk. I do not understand…"_

"It is an altered tank- possibly one of the converted. Engines or weapon system may run on altered quartz, highly dangerous." Tony spoke, eying the tank as it aimed carefully.

_Whooosh!_

Tony twisted, managing to get out of the wave of crackling green power, which slammed up, into one of the research buildings, causing the metal to groan as it seemed to disintegrate, falling apart as men and woman screamed, flailing and tumbling out of the hole before they were silenced by the ground.

_"Holy-"_

_"Stark! What was that! What just happened?"_ Steve commanded, obviously the entire group had seen the effect and damage from the weapon.

_"…Am I left to assume that they cannibalized the quartz into a weapon?"_

"Correct. It seems capable of disintegrating any target." Tony responded, not unnerved or fearful of the obviously lethal weapon.

_"Wait- you knew about this!"_

_"I suspected it. As for if the quartz would ever be used was still unknown. You cannot blame me for reasons that I was not aware of."_

_"Brother, that midgardian weapon looks as if made by the Dark Elves."_

_"The Dark Elves know the secrets of pure seidr, nothing more and nothing less. I am fully aware of such ways and am able to act in that form. Pure seidr is corruptible, easily influenced for pain and chaos."_

_"The Midgardians have magic? How have they learned such woma- my apologize. Such abilities?"_

_"I am unsure."_ Loki curtly stated back, and cut his communication.

"Loki." Tony spoke, swapping the comm. To a private feed, causing slight hesitation on the other side.

_"Yes, Tony?"_

"I'd prefer for you to analyze the situation once entering the final chamber."

_"Am I to assume that you are currently clueless as to what we'll be facing?"_

Tony blinked slowly before stating almost just as slowly, "…correct."

_"Then I will certainly be in contact. Through what I am seeing here, I assume that it will be vaguely humanoid, most likely male if there is a determinable gender. It will definitely hold seidr, although I am unsure as for how it will use it."_

"Stay alive." Tony offered, before looking back at the tank which was slowly taking aim again.

First objective- destroy the tank.

x-(X)-x

Loki edged forward, trying as hard as he could not to look at the walls.

He had seen awful things, the death of children and the slaughtering of many others. He was  _not_  going to look at the sickening sight along the walls.

Natasha was trying her hardest to keep her eyes on the far door, trying not to look at the cages.

Various testing equipment was set up, some looked possibly months old and unused, while others still seemed to be working.

Loki closed the transmission, setting it on a temporary mute as they walked through the halls, Loki's metal plated shoes making small clicking noises while Natasha walked with small clicks also.

"…This is sick." Natasha muttered under her breath, causing Loki to let out a small sigh as he stopped moving, closing his eyes.

"…I am centuries old, Agent Romanoff. I have been…compromised in many unsettling ways, but these actions brought on by…inhumane reasoning's, has baffled me the most." Loki spoke, causing Natasha to look at him warily as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Hela shall guide them to peace." He spoke, voice almost a whisper as he passed by a particular dazed and barely breathing woman, brushing his fingers over the thick glass, and slowly she exhaled. She did not inhale again.

They walked, trying not to look at the cells, or how they changed more and more as they advanced down the halls.

Loki frowned, noticing how a computer seemed to have a…screensaver.

He approached it, moving the mouse faintly and seeing the bright blue screen which required a password. He pressed two fingers in the screen, which glowed green before alerting in bright almost cheery letters  _Access: Granted._

He looked at the status, which was over the closest twelve, noticing sickly how each had a bright red  _abort_  tag next to them, a small box in the bottom still awaiting an answer  _Are you sure you wish to kill all experiments? Yes. No._

He froze, eyes narrowing in horror and anger at the demand, eyes flashing to the consol to see the time in which the command had been executed- twenty three minutes ago. That was roughly the time in which meant, all of the officers or lab technicians who were working in this sector had already escaped.

 _'Or advanced on.'_ Loki's, mind whispered.

"I don't understand what this organization is testing. Biological weapons? Mutant abnormalities?" Natasha asked, voice shaking while becoming even more emotionless then normal- a coping mechanism.

"Seidr, or energy. They are testing the compatibility of seidr on biological beings. I assume that the resurrection of extinct species is to test how well they can create a biologic code and a new creature. If combined with seidr, a mass weapon." Loki spoke, occasionally trailing his fingers upon glass walls, quickly and mercifully ending the suffering of a few crying or vegetative humans from within.

Natasha would argue, but seeing a small girl, maybe only seven in age with only a single arm and multiple odd growths and blindness in both eyes- she would gladly give death.

"If that tank above was a weapon form of energy, who is to say that they haven't succeeded in creating the weapon?" Natasha asked, and Loki only blinked slyly, trying to keep his new emotions masked as he trailed his fingers on an elderly man's cage.

"The testing prior to this has shown that many results and unexpected reactions have occurred. Thus, multiple trials before a final project can be put into motion." Loki explained, and Natasha stilled.

"If  _this_  is as far as they have advanced…then why are their  _five sections?"_

Loki froze, looking at the door at the end of the hallway with a slightly dreading look, almost as if fearful of what was on the end.

"They've made their prototype; they've made their weapon, haven't they?" Natasha asked quietly, and Loki took one more second to stiffen before spinning on his heels, grabbing her arm and tugging her  _away_ from the door.

She spun, her ankle colliding soundly with his jaw, snapping his head back with a click, causing his eyes to narrow in annoyance as he growled slightly, forcing her between two cages where she wouldn't be immediately seen.

" _Stay here_. Do not disrupt me; do not  _try_ to move me." He warned her, ducking into another gap and slinking to the ground, closing his eyes and focusing.

He had gained several titles in his life, the one that he was going to use now was

Sky Walker.

He  _let go_ , letting his mind and essence soar from the shell of his physical body, letting his mind branch out- feeling and darting out and around, feeling the life force of everything around him-

_Blue and black and cold, rushing, racing towards a door. Door needs a code, under and through the door, into the room where the men are rushing. They are busy, they are rushing to begin. They run and drain, water slipping past pipes and downdowndown- it is dark. Dark and cold as they hurry and pray to the gods that they will survive- the room has tubes, they hide behind and try to the core of the building. Try to hide from sight, away from the all seeing gaze. It is stirring, dripping and wet as it thrashes in glass, mouth open in silence as commands fill its thoughts- computers working its mind while its body pumps power and raw energy. Eyes open and greengreengree-_

Loki gasped, jarring up and locking eyes with an emotionless Natasha, who looked slightly disturbed with his temporary comatose state.

"There are men and women in the next room. It seems that their prototype is alive and functioning- I am unable to determine its abilities." Loki nodded to Natasha who gave a frown.

"How many men are in there?" she asked, slowly rising to her feet and drawing out several small spheres filled with various gasses.

"Thirty, possibly more. They are taking cover behind machinery to avoid gunfire." He stated, rising to his feet as they slowly approached the door. He walked to the scanner, placing two fingertips on the scanner and letting it flash green, opening quickly.

Natasha hurled six of the orbs, three in each hand into the room, where it immediately started leaking toxic gas, people started shouting and screaming through the gas.

Loki stood, and with a slight pang of regret, snapped his fingers, turning and splaying his arms out in an instinctive protective barrier as the gas caught the summoned green fire- exploding upwards with a mighty explosion, spreading outwards intensely as the fire and explosions increased in power around them.

Loki gave a low hiss as he dropped the shield to grab Natasha and teleport, Hawkeye jumping as the two slammed into the bottom of the Quinjet, Loki's clothing smoking.

"What?" Hawkeye gasped, looking at Natasha who slowly forced her way up, blinking and disorientated from the ground.

"Scan the base in the explosion, look for life forms." Natasha spoke, stumbling towards the commands while Loki used the wall for support, rolling his shoulders and back from the searing deep ache that was beginning to set in.

"Tasha,  _nothing_ could live through that." Clint spoke, Loki gaining a slight view of billowing smoke and an explosion spread across the building, billowing outward as the explosion detonated started to hit other flammable substances within the complex, years and years of data being destroyed, weapons detonating from inside…

_"Loki, this is Tony. I saw the explosion; it managed to destroy a tank. Are you out?"_

"Both Natasha and I are unharmed and inside the Quinjet. We detonated before the prototype was activated." Loki spoke, ducking his head and letting out a relieved breath as he looked from the window.

_"...So are we done? Can we call SHIELD in on this, Stark?"_

_"…No. Not yet. Jarvis is detecting a single life form."_

"Impossible." Loki cut in, eyes narrowing as he walked quickly towards a window, glancing out, "Nothing could have survived that. All the humans were killed, the weapons melted." Loki argued.

_"…Are you positive the prototype was destroyed?"_

Loki's eyes widened as he collapsed. Natasha looking back in surprise at his lifeless shape again.

"What's wrong now?" Clint grumbled, looking in the mirror to see the sprawled form of Loki.

"I think he has some sort of ability that works as sonar in the area. He did it down in the base." Natasha explained.

Loki jolted upright, causing Clint to jump slightly as Loki looked up, eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"It's alive." He breathed, causing Natasha to stiffen and Clint to raise an eyebrow.

_"Please repeat that. I don't think I heard through the comm."_

"The prototype, it's alive. It's out there, and it's  _angry."_ He spoke, frowning and closing his eyes once more, "It- it's lost. It's confused and it only knows that it's supposed to destroy- _oh."_

_"What is it, Loki?"_

"It's after me." Loki spoke, blinking as if in shock. He shook his head, rising to his feet and looking down at the burning ruin of the ground below.

_"No, don't chase it. It's not logical for you to go down when its abilities include surviving an explosion of that caliber."_

"It's my problem, and my responsibility." Loki argued, hitting the emergency hatch as it lowered slowly, air from outside filling the cabin.

Loki closed his eyes once more- searching outside his body-

_Findfindfind, find and kill he. Find the one with the silvertongue and the burninghothothot fire in veins and heart- there is no heart, kill the monster. Kill the demon. Find the eyes- same eyes. Eyes both green, hair same, hands same- same as a monster. Kill the monster, killkillkill- steal it, steal it from what made he, killkillkill kill the creator, kill the monster-_

_"Loki-"_

"I made it." He spoke, almost in a daze before he frowned, wind blowing his hair as he looked down at the mess of fire and smoke, what looked similar to Surtr's land.

_"You did not create the prototype-"_

"It's not a prototype. It's the final creation. It's my fault that it lives and that it breathes. I'm killing it." Loki spoke before muting the com. He paused, looking over his shoulder at Natasha and Clint who were eying him. One with eyes filled with hate and rage, the other with suspicion and blankness that unnerved him.

"My actions will never explain what I did nor why I did it. I will say, and it is your choice to accept my words or not, that I humbly accept all blame and future blame upon my person." He spoke before giving the smallest little sad smile, "I regret my actions. I regretted them long ago."

He turned, and flung himself off the edge of the Quinjet.


	22. Chapter 22

He had shifted, spinning in partial drop into a flurry of dark brown feathers before swerving, shifting once more and landing on the ground hard, one knee bent to brace the impact.

He blinked, rising his head and immediately straining to see through the thick black smoke around him, one hand lifting to trace the comm. In his ear, as if to make sure that it was still there.

_"Loki. I highly advise you to remove yourself from your position."_

Loki ignored him, instead snapping his neck around through the smoke, trying to see any sort of movement in his eyesight.

_"Normally, I'd disagree. But Loki, we don't know what we're fighting."_

"On the contraire, Captain. I am fully aware of what I will be fighting." Loki responded, voice low as he constantly turned, not letting his back be open for more than a second as he slowly moved about.

 _"...You mean that you know what the heck that is? That you've been working with them?"_ Clint asked, voice in a sneer over the crackled frequency, and Loki let out a low growl at the mere  _thought_  of helping-

"No." He growled, not walking to keep his eyes in one spot as they shifted, "I am only aware of what it is capable of."

_"…Loki, the evidence of Stryker being part of this suggests that this may be another Deadpool-"_

"Stryker was only used as a resource to try and combine the genetic and energy components. Mutant powers have no similarities beyond the DNA sequencing; I'm positive that Stryker will have no idea about what this is- if he's still alive." Loki growled a slight pause on the other side.

 _"…This is still a risk. It is illogical for you to attack without a clear vantage point or advantage. I must request that you withdraw back to a secure location where we can all attack at once."_ Tony spoke, and Loki rolled his eye.

"No." He spoke, and before Thor could input his say, he spoke low and harshly, "This is  _my fight."_

It was a moment of silence, before he heard movement.

It was a shuffle of a foot on dirt and gravel. A near silent sound amongst the distant crashing of unsteady ground shifting. Loki turned, sixth sense  _feeling_  as a small but deadly wave of near invisible energy shot by him, faintly glowing green as it spread, and vanished uselessly into the black smoke.

Loki was on the offensive side now, dropping to the ground and letting a mirror of a current race over the ground. He could hear the spring and the kicking of rocks as the creature obviously jumped, trying to get out of the way and off the ground, leaving itself exposed for a mirror attack.

His metal clad shoe collided with something hard, he felt it give way and mold to the hit, before it was propelled off, a heavy sound as it rolled, skidding across the ground.

 _"Loki? What was that noise?"_  Tony spoke, as concerned as one could be without emotions.

"I kicked it." Loki responded, almost deadpan as he ducked, avoiding a swipe and delivered an uppercut, fist colliding with a bony jaw and he felt the neck crane back as it was once more, knocked on the ground.

 _"Wait, you just kicked the prize creation of a multibillion corporation that deals with murder, kidnapping, thief, and probably more. You just…kicked it?"_  Clint asked, almost in shock and as if he was trying to hold back a snort.

_"Brother, do you need a comrade in arms for this-"_

"No." Loki growled, tensing and spinning, swiping one hand around in an odd position, the smoke hesitating before whirling around in a tornado, gathering and growing bigger as it not only cleared the vicinity and increased visibility, but also provided a weapon towards the creature.

It responded with another, larger energy wave which cut its way soundly through the smoke and sharp winds, leaving it unharmed.

_"Holy- This is the one time I'm not going to believe what I'm seeing. You guys are seeing this too, right?"_

_"…I'm seeing it, Hawkeye."_

_"Same here."_

_"Good…'cause I think this just got a lot harder."_

_"…You're assumptions are correct."_

Loki was staring at  _another_ Loki.

The other gave a small decline of his head- a challenge.

Loki gave a small smirk; the other mirrored it in almost a disturbing manor as they started to circle.

_"…How do we know which one is the real one?"_

_"As far as biologically, both are in essential, real. However if you intend to ask which one I have the greatest connections to and which holds my emotions, I think the logical conclusion would be the less savage one. But in this term and as this may possibly be the final battle, I must conclude that there is no absolute certain way."_

_"…You mean we don't know?"_

_"We don't know."_ Tony agreed.

x-(X)-x

Loki stared at the clone/copy.

It had his most immediate features, its hair was a slight length shorter (possibly due to the length it had grown once he had escaped), and his own face was slightly thinner.

Besides that, the only difference was the clothing.

They both wore dark clothing, the dark almost fluid material over the copy and the thick yet well worn black leather of Loki's own seamless armor, the only distinguishable difference was the long emerald cape which clung to his backside, awaiting movement.

He frowned, quickly realizing that once the others had caught sight of the cape, they would easily jump into the fray and join the battle which was  _his…_

He reached over his shoulder with one hand, and undid the clasp securing the cloak to his back, letting the material flutter before he caught it with one hand, balling the fabric before twisting his hand, storing it quickly in a small pocket of reality he himself kept. He stashed it next to centuries of small marvels and other stolen relics he had managed to snag in his long existence.

They stared at one another until very slowly through the silence, a large crackle from his com.

_"Loki. It would highly benefit you to remove yourself from this situation before it becomes violent."_

"Tony. This battle is already violent, you just aren't seeing it. I suggest you find safer ground while I fight." Loki spoke smoothly, pinching the device and sending a small magical pulse through the device, knowing that it would create a spark or a jolt on the other connection.

He paused, looking at the opponent as he dropped the fried communicator, letting his voice lower as he addressed the creation.

"You intend to kill me, for what purpose?" He asked, and the clone only blinked slowly, before almost mechanically opening its mouth.

"Target: Loki of Asgard. Abilities: Magic and energy manipulation. Threat level: Alpha. Order: Terminate. Processing." It spoke, voice dull but almost disturbing with how identical its voice was.

Loki gave a small nod, "You are a Midgardian device, a machine." He spoke, scowling at the abomination as it blinked slowly.

"I am created by Director Sykes." It spoke deadpan, causing Loki to frown as they slowly circled one another.

"Who is Director Sykes? You're creator? You're  _master?"_ He sneered, yet the emotionless creation failed to rise to the bait.

"Director Julian Sykes. Age: 47. Director Sykes is the founder and current leader of SCORP. Current status: dead." The creature stated emotionlessly, causing Loki's eyebrow's to rise in surprise.

"Your leader is dead?"

"Director Sykes perished exactly 19.71 minutes ago. Cause of casualty: explosion. Fault: You." The creature deadpanned, and Loki tried to hold in the breath of relief.

"Why are you still operational if you have no controller?" Loki questioned once more, giving a jab while the creature blinked slowly.

"Order: exterminate Loki of Asgard and Anthony Stark. No failure or termination. Mercy rules: none. Self regard: none. Second operative: destroy SHIELD. Casualties: all. Mercy rules: Nick Fury. Nick Fury once obtained will be blamed for cause of detonation and explosion towards Russia. Russia will retaliate and detonate nuclear explosives. SCORP will supply both sides with low weaponry, and then detonate custom weaponry." It rattled off without a single hesitation.

"You're planning on creating a war between the mortals- for each to destroy another." Loki's eyes widened as he realized that, "and of Asgard?"

"High energy weapons derived from Loki of Asgard." It spoke, and Loki let out a loud swallow.

"And why are you enlisting me with such information?" He spoke with a low voice, and the creature blinked.

"I am available to all information." It spoke, and it took Loki a few seconds to understand exactly what it was saying- that  _he_ was available to all information.

"What are the remaining bases of SCORP?" He demanded, the creature blinking.

"Current bases are all destroyed. Casualty rate of SCORP members: 89.44%. Remaining board members: Steve Goodhard. Marcy Pekkins. Staff account: 436 members."

Loki scowled, not understanding any of the information but making sure to remember it.

"If I attempt to stop your plans?" Loki tested, and at once the creature stiffened, shifting into an attacking posture.

"Current objective:  _exterminate."_

They lunged, the creature starting low and almost with mechanical efficiency, slashing upwards where it snagged Loki's armor, flipping him into the ground where the creature attempted to jam downwards, snapping Loki's neck.

The god turned, shifting to a side, letting the ground give a muffled noise as the clone's hands jammed into the ash and dust. Loki grabbed its elbow, attempting to jerk it the opposite direction and the creature recoiled once it shifted under his hands.

Loki watched cautiously as the creature didn't so much as flinch as it robotically gripped its dislocated elbow, shifting it back into place with a grinding noise and advancing once more.

Loki gave a low growl, something he normally refrained from using due to its savage and feral appearance, and felt a small sense of growing dread when it did little to halt his adversary.

 _'It cares little for pain. It is mechanical in nature and mind, although made with biologic functions. It will fight long after I would be unable to, it would stand on broken bones and ignore bleeding wounds.'_ He mentally realized, forcing himself to his feet as he fired off glowing green spitting fire, the creature flashing an arm out, sending out one of the low level magical pulses which split the fire and knocked Loki back and onto the ground.

He rolled, wincing as he rose once more, looking grim at his opponent.

He waited until the stiff and robotic footsteps were within three feet of him,  _then_ he sprung.

His palms slammed into his opponent's shoulders, twisting his two legs together and spinning them around to slam into the copy's side, just below his left ribcage, the attack causing the clone to stumble, starting to fall as Loki's grip tightened.

He let his nails dig further into the thick cloth forming the clone's outfit, sending a sharp and hair burning jolt of magic through its body.

The clone dropped, legs twitching already from the electric current, but it was over almost as soon as it started. The clone forcing itself upright far sooner than it should have, letting loose a powerful blast that Loki redirected with one arm, adept at the skills of magic vs. magic combat.

It had been much too long since his last actual battle. If he could actually list one, it would have been his excursion on Jotunheim prior to Thor's banishment. Even saying that as a battle was slight, he wasn't using his full abilities at the time due to his…agreement, with the savage race-  _his race._

His head jolted upwards at the idea, and he raised slowly, the clone eying him warily as Loki moved to the left, the clone mirroring his movement to keep a perfect distance apart.

Loki let his hands curl; letting the palms slowly turn to the cursed dark blue he hated so much, and  _felt_ the cold condense before his fingers.

He flicked forward, long sharp and obviously deadly projectiles as the Clone attempted to dodge all of the ice daggers.

Loki kept them firing, his biological weapon actually helping him. Obviously, the scientists of SCORP were not aware of his Jotun heritage, nor were they knowledgeable of the ice weapons.

The Clone winced, jerking as it looked at its side in almost fascination, seeing two of the sharp tips buried into its side.

With little hesitation it grabbed it and yanked it from its hip with a spurt of crimson and another liquid, clear and thick as it leaked out. The Clone attempted to throw the ice back, but it cracked and shattered in its grip. The creature looked at the other weapon, lodged just below the other wound, and pulled it out, slowly crushing the ice in its grip, fascinated.

Loki fired off another, but this time the Clone snagged it in the air, lodging it back in a way that Loki was forced to defend himself with a clear shield the ice shattered on impact with. Loki didn't dare lower the shield as quickly the clone used the magical pulses.

Loki's eyes widened as he realized his fault, if he let up on the shield to attack, the blast would leave him vulnerable. If he continued his shield, the copy could grow closer and closer until it could get at Loki  _through_  the shield.

He grit his teeth and help firm as the clone advanced further, the shield groaning under the stress as Loki  _finally_ let up, letting the ground explode in green flames and fire as he turned, desperately leaping and shifting with large cracks, flapping desperately.

A blast clipped his wing, shattering the bones along the tip and causing him to fall, tumbling and flapping awkwardly before him shifting, still tumbling before he came to a stop, cradling his hand and noticing the discoloration quickly spreading.

The clone approached, and reached into a sheath along its side, drawing out a long dagger, a foot in length with a slight curve at the tip, glinting in the hazy light through the smoke.

Loki eyed the blade, watching it cautiously as it came to rest in the crook of his neck, pressing close enough to draw a single drop of blood, which burned coldly as it ran down the side and under his armor.

"I expected more from my biological creator." The clone spoke in a deadpan, before drawing the knife back and plunging it forwards.

Into nothing.

The clone blinked as the knife went through  _Loki's clone_ , digging harshly into the ground as Loki himself sprung up upon the creatures back, drawing one of his short throwing daggers and attempting to slit the throat of the abomination.

It bucked, turning harshly and spontaneously so Loki's knife drew no lethal wounds as it slipped and scraped the flesh, raking over and over the throat area until it bore little resemblance to Loki's own unmarked flesh.

The creature grabbed Loki's head, flipping him over his head and onto the ground, where Loki threw his throwing knife quickly, although disoriented from the impact. The blade lodged deep into the tendon of its shoulder. Its arm went limp from the knife cutting off its rotation.

Loki jolted upwards, fire erupting from his hands as it collided strongly into the creature, knocking it back as its clothing quickly caught the flame, burning green as the creature stilled, then rose and turned.

Its body  _glowed_. It was faint and barely noticeable if not for the large gash in its hip, leaking blood and the clear fluid, which at the moment glowed as if it contained fragments of a star. It shone slightly green, seeming to  _absorb_  the nearby fire- allowing the fire to harmlessly flutter against its skin.

 _'That's how it recovered prior. It contains the rock, mixed with its blood.'_ His mind whispered as he took a step back, and the clone came forward with a fierce punch, Loki ducking but not avoiding the swift uppercut to his gut. He gasped as the fist collided with more force than Loki would safely throw, and his teeth clicked together, breathe exhaling forcefully as he struggled to inhale once more. The copy turned, spinning its left leg around and slamming it onto Loki's back, forcing him to crash into the ground. Searing pain from his broken hand as he was forced to land on his, chest burning with new pain as most probably, his cracked ribs.

"Your body betrays you." The copy noted voice deadpan and unnerving with his tone. Loki cracked his eyes open from where they had fallen closed, and slowly started to rise, halting when his chest flared with pain.

"I am a god." He rasped, somehow managing to sound offended while the copy was quick to retort.

"And I am born from the blood of he. I am a god as well." It noted, tilting his head in curiosity, as if Loki was a puzzle it was trying to solve.

"You know  _nothing._  You are a foolish beast, made from the desires of mortals." He coughed out; voice more scratchy then he'd be willing to say.

It tilted its head, as if part canine before asking, almost like a child, "Then I am not more? Then I am not a creation made of perfection?"

"You are a  _machine_  made from calculations and the toys mortals call  _science."_  Loki hissed, and the drone didn't look that upset over it all.

"Then I am a machine, and I will kill you." It spoke, before frowning slightly "I follow orders. Of whom do you follow? Who speaks of what should be done?"

Loki  _laughed,_  a sick grating noise on his throat as he managed a rather strong and cocky smirk, one he had long since used even in childhood.

"I am Loki.  _I do what I want."_  He laughed, and then moved.

The clone slammed into the ground a fair distance away from where he had blasted it, rising slowly and wincing, observing where through the burned clothing of the copy, the light seemed to fixate, in its lower abdomen, almost central to its naval.

His eyes narrowed as the copy rose, eyes seeming to calculate Loki's condition, but before it could move, Loki  _snapped._

The air itself seemed to tingle and Loki exhaled, suddenly feeling very weak from his conjuring. The copy paused, but seeing no danger proceeded one step forward.

From the ash and dust something jolted upwards, black and condensing further until it almost looked like an actual creature. It grew in size before it lengthened, seeming to rise from the dirt as if it was breeching water, shifting in the blackness and moving tall enough to knock over the remaining buildings.

 _"Loki. Get your ass out of there or Stark will kill us all."_ A voice echoed from high above, faint amongst the shifting and grunting rubble as the condensed smoke moved along it.

Loki ignored the speakers on the Quinjet, advancing towards the copy which was looking in every direction, attempting to make sense of the chaos, and confusion of the huge, moving body of smoke, which seemed to be more directed as Loki drew nearer.

"You may be similar to me in flesh in blood, but there is one thing you will  _never,_   _ever_ be able to control that is mine and  _mine only."_ Loki hissed, and from all around a lower deeper hiss slowly rose in volume.

The copy turned, looking at him with a single arched brow as it held its hands aloft, ready to use the only magical attack it knew. "And I assume you will continue on with that thought." It spoke monotone.

"You will  _never_  take  _my children."_ He hissed, and the creature froze, as if in shock.

"Abomination," Loki spoke, voice low and filled with anger, "meet my youngest son, Jormungandr." He spoke, drawing his arms up and displaying them around just as the smoke seemed to solidify even more, now depicting individual scales the size of Asgard's plates.

A large head raised high above the writhing scaled mass, face long and angular as its eye were empty white sockets, equal in height to the Quinjet it ignored. It slowly turned, smoke fading off before solidifying once more around it, showing nostrils and very slowly, its mouth opened with a prehistoric hiss, fangs as long as a grown man dropping from the hinged jaw.

"Jormungandr," Loki spoke softly, the large reptilian head dropping almost in a coo, looking at his father with adoration as Loki nodded to the copy, "Meet my…clone, and apparent death." He smiled, "Dinner."

The snake lunged, slamming down with such force all the dust on the ground lifted into the air as the copy reared back and  _screamed_ \- the mass of Jormungandr blocking it from sight as the conjuration and temporary occupation of mind attacked, piercing it again and again with the long, currently non venomous (as it was literally, condensed smoke), fangs.

Loki dropped to his knees as through the smoke the copy started to glow, steadily growing more and greener with every strike Jormungandr took. The clone attempted to absorb the magic, but Loki knew full well the energy the conjuration took would quickly overwhelm the quartz.

He didn't respond as the shriek from the copy gained an even higher octave before a loud piercing cracking noise, and an explosion of white light, Jormungandr recoiling and coiling back, diminishing in size just as he brushed against Loki, obviously worried about his current exhausted father, who was slowly slumping to the ground.

"Thank you." He breathed, and the snake seemed to coo, pausing before cooing even more loudly, as if worried over something.

He inhaled, flinching in surprise as he felt a surprising pain, glancing down he noticed thin, long projectiles lodged in his armor- thin and almost crystalline in shape as they were a clear color-quartz.

"Oh." He breathed, realizing the quartz overload must have caused it to quite literally, explode. The shards were shrapnel from the creatures 'heart', which meant it was obviously dead.

Jormungandr cooed once more before Loki was unable to hold the form any more, and Jormungandr's mind was promptly returned to his true reptilian body on the bottom of the sea. Letting the smoke settle and clear the area, Loki lying on his side with the rock lodged somewhere in his armor, quite possibly piercing his skin.

His eyes drifted shut partially, before he heard a muffled noise, brain working sluggishly as he opened his eyes, seeing a group around him. He blinked- when had his br- _Thor_ , arrived and lifted his head? When had he moved upon his back?

"-Oki? Th-…-ve him o- " Words were cutting out of his mind, his eyes were having slight difficulty focusing but noticed the monster, the doctor, Bruce saying something, looking at Thor. Thor, who put a sturdy weight upon his shoulders as-  _pain._

His back arched, and he probably said something, cursing as pain erupted in his chest, more so then the ribs. It vanished quickly, changing to a pulsating feeling on his chest.

He blinked- his armor? They had removed his armor plating, not that there was much to begin with. He looked down, large splotches across his torso. As he assumed, broken or fractured ribs, two small but jagged gashes were in his skin, bleeding quite heavily from what he had seen before something was being pressed into the wounds, scarlet and large- a cape?

"-Ki? Lo-…Loki?" He heard repeatedly and he lolled his head to the side, wincing as a bright light met his eyes and he clenched them shut quickly, "sta-d…bad, tw-…-eart and liver…not like-…moment-…alk with him-"

He groaned a slight whimper from the pain in his chest and his one hand fluttered upward to try and hold the wound, only to be forced back down again.

"-Oki?" A voice asked, and he forced his eyes open again, an action which was growing increasingly more difficult.

He spotted Tony, looking at him with as much concern as he could give, and his one mangled hand managed to seek out the other male's, instantly giving a transfer, or sharing the emotions between the two. The other male was carefully not to jolt the fractured digits as he leaned forward, feeling emotions once more.

"Shit Lok's! You run off to fight this wannabe, and Clint see's that you're down, we land after we see that freaky snake thing which I think  _may have_ been your son-" It draws off and Loki blinks, eyes lolling before another hand is on his cheek, forcing his head back, apparently his eyes had closed again.

"Lok's? You here? Lok? Lo- shit, Bruce!" He practically screams, and Loki jumps, grunting in pain as he opens his eyes once more, feeling the panic and hopelessness through the shared emotions. It was much too real when Loki realized what was happening.

"I'm dying, 'rnt i?" Loki slurred, eyes half lidded as Tony refused to answer, hand tightening around his own. The body under him shaking slightly. He cranes his neck back and looks into the light, spotting the golden hair above him, "Th'r?"

"Aye, I am here." Thor spoke, voice strangely quiet as Loki blinks and gives a slight nod, looking back further and seeing Bruce who was looking incredibly guilty, Clint who was looking away and Natasha, who was still emotionless. "S'rry." He spoke, before rolling his head around to see Tony again, the action making his head spin and he gave a small groan.

"Can't he j-..-eal it?" The words drifted in and out while Tony shook his head.

"Quartz is in the w-…magic w-..'t work." Tony spoke, voice loud then quiet as Loki's eyelids dropped ever so slowly, then someone jolting him awake.

"Loki, stay w-…-e. Com-…-n, Loki?" Tony was asking, more and more frantic as Loki didn't  _want to,_ and instead gave a lazy blink.

"Y're my fr's fr'nd." Loki spoke, trying to figure out what exactly he was saying, and Tony gave a small smile, thumb rubbing small circles on Loki's hand as he gave a small smile, nodding, "Gu-…-am. You're my f-iend too." He smiled.

Loki's lips twitched before he looked up, seeing Thor and obvious tears. It took him a while to figure out that he was crying, "y're m' br'ther." He spoke, voice now lower in volume. Thor gave a jerky nod, and fat tears hit Loki's face, who frowned with a low keening noise.

"H-y…-Oki?" He looked at Tony again, who was now shaking slightly, and he gave a small smile, before he exhaled, feeling suddenly unbearably cold.

Oh Valhalla, he  _was dying._

"M' scared." He whispered, eyes widening as he was struggling to see faces now, and the hand on his tightened even more, and he could hear it, someone was crying.

"Sh- 's o-ay." The voice was harder to understand now. And he turned, looking intently at Tony and spoke saying "Take th'm." and he forced the emotions through the link, so instead it was  _he_ holding the emotions, instead of supplying them.

"Br-ther. Sle-" Loki's eyes were sliding shut as he gave a small smile.

"I a'ways w'nted to h'lp. Guess it's t'me to sl'p." He murmured, and very slowly he closed his eyes, hearing a shaky voice whispered, "Sleep."

He exhaled once more, and then grew limp.


	23. Chapter 23

Loki came to slowly. It was a disorienting feeling, almost as if he had fallen from his horse once again as he did as a child. He could distinctly remember the deep bone aching in his bones, a throbbing pain that was buried deep in his chest.

He grunted, slowly stirring and moving his arms, recognizing the feeling as broken ribs and the foul taste of the floor certainly not his chamber bed.

He groaned once more, forcing his aching limbs to press against the ground and push up- a flash of fire in his hand and he crumpled, slowly blinking and looking at his disfigured claw of a hand, broken.

He looked around, slowly climbing to his knees, temporarily crumpling in pain as his ribs made breathing harder, had he punctured a lung?

He shook his head through the dizziness, looking at the odd black yet familiar soil beneath his fingers, crumbling under his nails. He looked up, slightly further, away there was a small tree, suffering and so sickly looking among the dry black ash of soil.

 _'Yew'_ his mind supplied as he slowly forced himself to rise, wincing once again in pain as his hand flew to his chest, oddly enough actually  _hitting something._

His neck jerked downwards, looking numbly at the two small, and yet very disconcerting slivers buried in his armor. His fingers brushed the two slightly protruding shards, small and stained red. He pulled his fingers away as it flared with pain; he looked at his fingers, coated in blood as if the shards had not even been there.

He knew of biology and anatomy. He  _knew_  that he was punctured in his liver, and apparently, his heart.

He  _couldn't live_ with that.

The sound of a loud bark alerted him, turning around and looking behind him as through the shadowy mist of the ashy dirt, a large shape was running towards him.

It was a canine; his experience with Fenrir was enough to immediately alert him of that fact. It was large by normal standards, as large as a small Midgardian horse and black. It approached in a terrifying speed, skidding to a stop in front of him, panting with loud snorts and gleaming fangs and crimson eyes. Its body was tensed in a killing strike, and in Loki's condition, he would definitely not last long.

"…Garnr?" Loki asked, at once the dog dropped its scary stance, blinking its red eyes curiously while tilting its head, tongue slobbering out and pawing at the ground curiously.

"Garnr, you are my daughter's watchdog. If you are here-," Loki paused it speaking as from behind Garnr another figure approached, cloaked in a black cloak over a stained white dress. It carried a lantern, the controlled flame dancing lights gently through the darkness as it approached.

"Father?" A quiet and feminine voice asked, Loki's eyes widening as the figure approached, illuminating the pale skin and the rotting putrid stench of decaying tissue and biological matter.

"Hela." Loki breathed, a small smile on his face as he looked at his daughter, whose half of her face showed a smile, the other just let the decaying flesh flap oddly in a contorted version of a grin.

"Father! What are you doing here? Your previous messages led us to believe that we would not speak to you in a lengthy absence." She spoke, tilting her head and letting her shiny black  _identical_  hair fall over one bone and pale-skinned shoulder.

"I too was led to believe that I would not see you. I am…not aware of my travels or my reasoning for my journey to Helheim." Loki blinked. Hela frowned then opened her mouth to respond before freezing.

"Father." She whispered, her eyes widening in surprise and horror, "You smell of death."

He froze, looking down at his chest and at the two shards.

" _Oh."_  He blinked, and took a stumbling step back, suddenly remembering the events prior to his arrival.

"Father?" Hela whispered, moving forward then remembering to offer him her right arm, knowing her decomposing and rotting would hold no support.

"I…I have…expired." He breathed, stiffly while Hela managed to give a small giggle.

"I apologize…you 'expired.' …It sounds as if you are a bottle of milk past its prime." She smiled. Loki jerked, shaking his head while she frowned, looking at him sadly.

"Father, whatever did you do to yourself?" She asked quietly, spying his broken hand. She gently clasped it between two of her, gently and painlessly knitting the bones together with loud cracks.

She then moved to his chest, gently wrapping her two arms, contrasting in health around his neck, as if she was a child once more. Loki kept his head bowed as she worked, gently trailing along magic, although she was not in the least a master compared to her father.

She settled to the ash next to him, folding her legs under her and using one finger to lift her father's head by his chin. He looked at her as she smiled, as if knowing some great secret.

"Some mortals would give me their hearts for life once more. Many have even offered themselves for eternal servitude, for my whim and wish for all their existence." She spoke, voice a soft whisper as she smiled once more, "But they do not know what I desire, enough for life once more."

He looked at her, curios as she leant forward, gently settling both foreheads together, Loki not even noticing the smelling and squishing half.

"What I desire, is a plaything. A toy, or one whose life was amusing enough for me to spend my power to create a body for." In addition, she smiled, "And what is more amusing then the God of Mischief?" She asked, then gave a somewhat serious face, "The fact that you are my father, and I love you is completely irrelevant to our situation."

Loki gave a slight smirk, looking at Hela and stating clearly, "Of course. You're not biased in  _anyway."_

She rolled her eyes, lightly punishing him in the arm with her left hand, the bones and skin squishing while she ignored the fact, rising to her feet.

"Come, we must enter Éljúðnir. From there I can remold your corpse to blood and life. Come, Garnr." Hela nodded to the large dog, which bowed its head, turned, and walked in the other direction into the mist.

"He will go off in search of lost souls. Most appear closer to the castle, but a few come into being in the distance. Souls regain wounds from their last moments, on occasion they are unable to walk. The hounds will drag them back once Garnr finds them." Hela explained as the two walked.

Loki did not question where they were going, and only once as they walked was another creature lying in the ash before them, a light elf, clothed in blood with a gash in his throat. An executioner's blow, Loki recognized.

Hela didn't even take the time to look at it before she snapped, from the shadows and ash a large dog, not Garnr's size or build but just as stocky formed from ash, grabbing the unconscious creature and dragging it behind them in its maw.

They walked, and slowly from the fog a tall castle came into view, and along the sides were various trees growing. Yews stood decrepit along the sides of the stone, which casted and eerie glow upon the barren land.

"And here is my castle. Shall my servants attend to the wounds I could not mend?" Hela asked, eyes drifting on the shards still in his chest, her eyes asking an unspoken question, as of what material refused to obey magic.

"Leave them. I wish for peace." Loki sighed, and Hela's eyes showed understanding.

"Of course." She nodded, then hesitated before asking, "Father, you are aware that I gladly welcome your visit upon my realm at any time you deem." She spoke, and Loki looked at her in surprise.

"Of course, my daughter, you must understand…the location-"

"Makes travel difficult. Certainly I do." She smiled bitterly. They approached the gates, moving past the large metal fence, littered with large stone hounds, holding chains in their teeth.

The doors opened upon their arrival, large and impressive as they walked in. Loki was long since used to the layout of his daughter's castle. It was similar to the Allfather's, large and grandiose, although Hela's was certainly more…somber.

"I trust you remember the path to your chambers?" She asked, obviously teasing with the smile on her lips.

"It depends. Have my quarters relocated?" He asked a slight grin on his lips as she threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh, the servants of my castle would be hard pressed to even dare enter your room! The last who tried had his entity torn until all that is left is a silver glow!" She teased and Loki gave a small smile, correct she was.

"Dinner is in my hall, try not to lose the way. The armor you left your last visit has been cleaned, polished, and one of my servants fixed the dents from the time you dared Thor to tickle a sleeping drake." Hela called over her shoulder, and Loki smiled fondly at the memory.

Dinner was uneventful. The same foods as what Loki expected, pomegranates, blood oranges, large roasts of various meats that were  _not_  slathered in oils and fats, nor dripping grease like Asgard seemed so fond of. Instead, it was tender to the touch and spiced evenly.

It was refreshing, and Loki found himself faintly amused when Hela did not even touch her red wine, and she scowled, noticing Loki's pointed look.

"…Is there something in the wine, Hela?" Loki asked, giving a slightly innocent look while Hela scowled, pointing her fork dangerously.

"Father, you know better than to taunt me." She scowled, taking her wine cup and drinking from it, Loki trying not to laugh as a fine trickle fell from the left side of her empty jaw, down her neck and onto her dress.

"Tis a good look." He noted and Hela scowled.

They walked, a night later towards the far side of Hela's hall. They walked high over the covered bridge towards said hall, Loki looked out over Hela's subjects. They were inside the gated areas, large hounds circling around and watching those who stumbled from the groups.

In the distance was a large tower, alit with glowing green torches although still hazy. It was morbid and fascinating to look at, although distant in the sea of moaning and crying people and creatures, far below.

"All my souls have the offer to travel through rebirth. All can work in my castle, or can stay outside. My hounds bring food, and water is plentiful. It is cold, and they are lonely." Hela spoke, looking out before sighing and turning, continuing along the tall tower.

"This is Éljúðnir, the hall of life and creation." She smiled, opening the door as the two walked in.

It was large and illuminated by the green light Loki recognized as the color of his magic, and his sires magic.

"Step into the circle. I will restore to you your prime health, and that  _does_  mean mental." She spoke, looking at Loki pointedly and darkly, "I have noticed your emotions. I will not comment on them, but I have managed to restore as many as I could during the moments I found you. This will restore you properly, as well as your magic core." She smiled, and Loki stepped into the circle, looking at Hela.

_'This is going to hurt.'_

Indeed it did.

X-(X)-x

It was nearly a week after the incident of SCORP.

SHIELD had quickly traveled to the remnants of the base, searching through and labeling bodies, interviewing any relatives to try to find information. SCORP had been disturbingly thorough, none of the relatives had even been aware.

Tony had carried Loki's corpse back to SHIELD, where they had placed it in a separate area, cold storage. Apparently, Thor was going to take it back to Asgard once he thought the time was proper.

Tony wasn't going to stand for it.

Tony had already had a gravestone created with the simple words 'Loki' on it, already outside the house in Canada. Out of everyone, Thor and He were the most torn up about it. In fact, they were nearly the only ones. Bruce and Pepper had grown to like Loki and his amusing personality, although it was very…scary.

They were called out on a mission- Tony had been added back into the Avenger's group once SHIELD had cleared him, explaining a clean version of what happened. It left the entire press making large apologies although they only knew a slight amount about what had happened.

SHIELD had captured and started deconstructing all magic based weapons, as well as attempting to recover the copy of the biological weapon/clone/Loki wannabe.

There wasn't much to scrape off the floor.

What was the big discovery, was the  _library_ Tony found in the guest bedroom. It was honest to god, from the floor to the ceiling in quite possibly, hundreds of thick books. Each filled with writings that were so small, he had to squint to read.

They were about  _everything._

It took Tony only a few moments to realize that Loki had quite literally left written documentations of  _everything he knew_.

That and the fact that  _Loki had known he was going to die._

Tony was in a screaming fit for almost an hour once he realized that.

He hadn't let anyone know, and it was only the first four days when he locked himself up. After that, he couldn't read anymore of Loki's handwriting and decided to venture out. He was not going to let  _anybody_ know about the books.

After that, they had gotten a call about Doom, who figured that in their moment of weakness they'd be an excellent target.

Tony had shown no mercy after the attack, in which everyone suffered slightly. Natasha, a cut on her shoulder, Clint a burn on his arm. Steve's was a wickedly hyper extended back, Thor suffered a nasty hit on his head, Bruce stepped on a tack- well, a large metal spike, and Tony got hit with an EMP blast.

Thus, they were all upset. Problem: they were mad, and wanted to relax.

Solution: crash the closest bar and raid them for vodka.

They had been in the bar for nearly an hour, Thor was throwing back drinks like water. He hadn't been his normal talkative self since Loki's…

"Excuse me?" They heard a quiet voice ask, everyone looking over their shoulder from the bar and seeing a woman standing in the doorway, awkwardly half in and half out as she stood, a shawl over her head and wearing an old white dress.

"What do you want?" Clint snapped, holding his cup in his left since the right was awkwardly curled into a claw by his side.

She looked taken aback, "Oh, my apologize. I was looking for someone…" She trailed off, and Steve turned with a frown, the only one besides Bruce who was completely sober.

"How may we help you, Ma'am?" he asked, sighing slightly at the end. She smiled.

"Polite, I don't get that often. Anyways, I come giving you a message. Well, he doesn't actually know right now, but I'm sure he'll appreciate the beforehand knowledge." She shrugged, and Thor frowned, turning around and looking at her carefully before he smiled.

"Niece!" he laughed, and the woman nodded her head, "A pleasure, Thor."

"Niece? Wait- what?" Clint blinked, looking at Natasha who shrugged, one hand on her temple, as she was particularly hammered.

"You're-" Tony swallowed, recognizing her from the stories he had heard before, "Hela."

She frowned, "I was unaware that you had any prior knowledge of me." She spoke carefully, causing Tony to spin on his barstool, looking her up and down.

"I don't know what he was talkin' about. You're prettier then he said." He noted, she frowned at the glass in his hand and let her glamour fall.

The group jumped, Clint's eyes widening while Natasha only took one look before thinking it was a hallucination from her drink, and ignoring it. Bruce looking with a slack jaw and Steve quickly closed his eyes.

Thor looked at her, noticing sickly how her…decomposition had changed.

Tony arched his eyebrows and took a sip, "Like I said, still more pretty."

Hela gave a smile, or a half smile as she nodded, "I thank thee, Anthony Stark."

"Lady Hela. What is your purpose of being here?" Thor asked, and Hela looked over, giving a small frown.

"I have granted life." She stated firmly, and Thor's jaw dropped slightly.

"Lady Hela surely you must be mistaken! You have  _never_  given life. Not to Balder whom every creature in all the realms shed a tear for!"

" _Balder_ ," She spoke, spitting the word as if venom, "Would have  _no purpose_ alive. His life wound not be amusing to the dead." She deadpanned, while Tony snorted.

"My brother?" Thor gasped, jumping to his feet while Tony snapped his head around, looking at the woman with a strange type of intensity.

Hela said nothing, and instead looked directly at Tony, before turning and walking, appearing to  _walk into the wall_ , and vanish into the shadows.

It was quiet until Clint spoke with a groan, "What the  _actual f-"_

"He's alive, isn't he?" Natasha asked, throwing back yet  _another_  shot of Vodka. Thor gave a still awed nod, and Tony found his heart beating fast enough that he wanted to cry from relief.

"Well, that settles it. Bartender! Give us another round!"

x-(X)-x

"You think he got wind and just ran?" an angry male voice asked, another huffed.

"No! Julian isn't like that-"

"Oh grow up Marcy! He'd do that, once that  _monster_ came after him-"

"But Julian said that they were hidden! There is no way it could have found a way to know about us-"

"Sykes said that it couldn't escape either!" The voice shouted, leaving a small silence between the two.

"…Do you think the monster made that explosion? That the prototype never finished and he's- that Julian's dead?"

Once again, a firm silence sat over the two inside.

Loki walked silently through the hall, waiting on the other side of the wall with narrowed eyes, fingering hidden knives in his sleeves. Steve Goodhard, and Marcy Pekkins- beyond that room were the two remaining co-directors of SCORP.

Only one of the three would walk away from the room alive.

Loki found it faintly amusing how the two assumed that they would live. They had taken precautions, but with Hela's keen ability to see the souls of all creatures, tracking down two mortals was of no difficulty.

She had smiled, and wished him the best of luck, briefly mentioning distractedly about how the hounds were excited for a new hunt.

He smiled as he approached the door, before knocking with two precise knocks, each crisp and clean in the air.

He heard the beings on the other side freeze, and with a silent wave of his hand be shifted his golden armor into a more appealing Midgardian clothing.

Very slowly, the door opened and a man stood there, roughly forty years old with dark black hair and a thick jaw. His steely grey eyes eyed Loki as he opened the door fully, possibly expecting one of the servants Loki had dispatched earlier.

"What do you want?" The man barked, using one arm to rub his eyes very tiredly.

"Steve, who is it?" The woman asked, walking into view. Loki finally had a visual on her, she was tall. Her dark brown hair with bright green olive eyes and a stern look on her face. She wore a short yet proper dress, holding a clipboard in her arms.

"Who are you? Are you in security? What do you want?" The man frowned, obviously fretted with the way his hair stood upright, as if he had run his hand through it many times.

"I apologize for the interruption. Are you both by any chance Steve Goodhard and Marcy Pekkins?"

The man looked at him baffled, "You knew that before, it was in your application to work under me- who  _are you?"_  He sneered, and Loki gave a thin-lipped bitter smile.

"I have many names. You may call me…Mr. Laufeyson." Loki spoke, not even flinching at the last name.

"Well then  _Mr. Laufeyson_ \- why the  _hell_  are you here?" He asked, frowning while Loki gave a small smile.

"I only have a few questions. Are you familiar with a Julian Sykes?" Loki asked casually, and the two people froze.

He looked up, staring as the woman pulled a small handgun, pointing it at his head and clicking the safety off.

"Put your hands, above your head and step into the room." She spoke firmly, yet her voice had a slightly weak edge on it.

Loki looked at the gun, wordlessly and motionlessly forming a magical barrier just in case she dared fire.

He stepped into the room, lifting his arms upwards and letting them bend at the elbows, showing a sign of ease although he was cautious.

"Marcy- he's just one of the guards." The male spoke, a slow low tone while the woman said nothing, only glaring.

"Steve, the only one that knows about Julian is you, and me. We are _an anonymous provider, which means_  that nobody knows that we're involved. If  _he knows-_ " She left off, swallowing and the man silently closed the door behind Loki.

"Does anybody know that you're here?" The woman fired off, and Loki arched an eyebrow, but a slight angling of the gun showed that she wasn't messing around.

"No." He spoke, almost drawling before he gave a small grin, "But you won't kill me."

"And why not? You know about us, you know about Julian, what's to say that you won't-"

"If I recall correctly," Loki spoke, dry and bitter, "Mr. Sykes Is dead."

Once again, there was a slight pause before the woman took a few steps forward, gun pointed even more directly at his heart.

"Look, I don't know who you are, or who you're with-" The man started.

"FBI? CIA?" the woman rattled, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"-but we don't want any trouble. I-  _we'll_ pay half a million if you don't tell  _anyone-"_

Loki  _laughed,_ shaking his head amusedly. "Oh, your mortal currency has no sway." He spoke, a catlike grin on his face.

The man paled while stuttering,"M-m-mortal?" He asked, looking almost in disbelief, while the woman aimed upwards, firing a single shot upwards into the plaster, letting dust rain down from the shot. Loki didn't as much as flinch.

"Who are you?" She demanded, and Loki looked at her coolly before her gun suddenly just…fell apart, crumbling in separate pieces onto the ground, useless.

"I find it amusing how you fail to connect logical conclusions from evidence right before your eyes." He spoke while the man mumbled and ran his head through his hair, still in shock over the destruction of the gun.

"My name is Loki Laufeyson." He spoke almost casually, and with a blink he summoned his duplicates, surrounding the two with dozens of his golden horned armor clad figures circled around the two humans, all looking ever so slightly different as to not be an exact copy.

Loki himself stood before them, lowering his arms and taking a step back, still wearing the mortal clothes to allow them to distinguish his among the crowd.

"I have no knowledge as for what you planned to create from my blood and power." He spoke, eyes narrowing, "and nor was it highly effective once in combat. I destroyed your organization, I killed Julian Stykes, and I tore your creation apart, piece. By piece." He spoke, voice a near growl, then a large almost sadistic smile filled his face, giving his face a demonic look.

"Now, how will I exterminate you?"

x-(X)-x

Another month after encountering Hela did Tony catch what he thought, was a glimpse.

It was some sort of assassin-like being. Twelve of them, highly efficient and each had been sent to take them out. Each had two of the assassins after them.

It was actually during downtown when they had lunged after them, Tony being the lucky little superhero who  _didn't_ have his weapon of choice (Really? Clint had his  _bow._  How? Not a clue). Thus, he was running through New York as if his life remained on it.

Which it did.

Therefore, he was running through a building, having managed to lose one of the assassins after running through a grocery store, managing to open the propane tank lids and release the gas to the air, then igniting it.

The second one, he couldn't get off him nearly as well.

He was running through buildings, and nearly lost said creature until he managed to run into a brick one way, desperately trying to find a handhold to climb his way out.

He turned, back pressed against the wall as the assassin walked slowly towards him, knife out while Tony panted, feeling an instinctive feeling of fear.

_Shhhlict!_

The assassin gagged, mouth opening and closing before it slumped, a dagger protruding from its back as Tony gasped, looking at the tall shrouded figure from behind. A flash of pale skin, green eyes and it moved, then vanished in such way was so familiar it ached.

The second time it was also a situation where Tony's life was in danger.

Tony came to expect the visitor until one night he was just… _sitting_  at his bar, looking at an empty cup and asking quietly. "Are you just going to keep watching me?"

From the shadows, Loki approached, looking incredibly well off, with a healthy glow around him.

"Not that I don't like it, it's flattering in some odd creepy stalker way." Tony rambled, and Loki gave a small smile.

"So, you're going to show when everyone keeps trying to attack me?" Tony asked with an arched eyebrow, and Loki rolled his eyes.

"Only when you are too childish to care about your personal safety." He responded smoothly.

Oh god, Tony missed that voice.

It was a few hours later of quiet conversation before Tony spoke again, "You know, I bet you word travels. 'Don't attack Stark! You'll  _mysteriously die!'_  " he waved his arm and Loki gave a smirk.

"Do you expect people to just…keep attacking me? I mean, wouldn't people learn that if you attack me, something's going to get them?" Tony asked, waving his arms. Loki gave a small shrug.

"I mean, people and villains would learn not to attack me, right? Or their lives are on the line. So why do people keep doing it?" Tony asked, and Loki smiled slightly.

"…It's a… _underrate risk_ , to attack you, Stark."

Tony lifted his empty glass and gave a smirk, "Amen to that."

"I thought you were atheist, Stark."

"Oh shut up, Reindeer games."

Somewhere far below the mountains, deep in the ground a large wolf was alerted to the fact that  _his father lived_. He let out a howl, and for once, not one of pain. It was filled with victory.

Over in Asgard Sleipnir lifted his great head, ears flicking back and forth as a soft voice whispered words in his head. He tossed his head over the feminine words, updating him on news he had dreaded. Sleipnir reared, kicking his four legs and bucking his back four against the stall door in pleasure and glee, for his mother yet lived.

Under the sea, a large serpent tucked itself between large underwater mountains, snapping at small sharks that dared travel near. He had mourned, watching through eyes that were not his own as he lay, knives of rock deep within his chest, painting ash and dust red with blood. He blinked once more, using the inherited gift of Skywalking to suddenly view Helheim, where a large dog and a cloaked woman alerted him to a future he had not known. Earthquakes and volcanoes ruptured as he writhed in barely contained glee.

And far below in Helheim, Hela laughed.

 


End file.
